TC 14: Relationships and Minefields
by Tegan's Muse
Summary: What did Nirrti do to Tegan?  Will Janet and Tegan be able to get their relationship off the ground, or is it doomed to fail?
1. Chapter 1

**Tegan Chronicles**

**Relationships and Minefields 1**

"I can't believe we've gone two and a half months without any injuries," Daniel commented as they made their way back to the gate wrapping up their latest mission.

"Bite your tongue," Jack and Tegan spoke in unison.

"No kidding." Sam agreed as Teal'c looked over.

"So does anyone have any plans for the Fourth?" Jack changed the subject.

"Um…" Sam glanced at Tegan.

"I was thinking about a cookout."

"In that case," Sam smiled, "No. I'm free on the fourth."

"We did not want to go fishing with you O'Neill."

"Yeah, I figured that one out Teal'c."

"I'm in." Daniel nodded.

"Kiser?"

"I'll bring dessert." She wiped the sweat from her brow.

"That's my girl." He grinned. "I'll invite Janet and Cassie too."

* * *

><p>Tegan rolled over and looked at the faint red projection of time on her ceiling. The sunlight creeping through the closed blinds had washed it out to the point it was barely readable. She let out a sigh and threw back the covers. It was 0700 hours, time to get on with her day.<p>

She grabbed a quick shower and threw on a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a dark blue t-shirt before finding her way to the kitchen. She made a lemon meringue pie and threw together a batch of brownies for the cookout that evening at Jack's. It was the Fourth and for once all the SG teams were on earth, and uninjured. The base was running on minimal support staff, and with more than nine hours to kill before the festivities were to begin, Tegan decided to take advantage of a quiet complex to get some research done.

Once she passed the security checkpoints the rest of the building was quiet. If she didn't known better she would have thought it was deserted. It was an eerie contrast to the normal hustle and bustle within the walls.

She stepped off on level 28 and went into the embarkation room. It was empty except for the large ramp and looming Stargate. She stared at the empty center for several seconds before she turned and looked up into the control room and spotted Sgt Larsen behind the reinforced safety glass watching her with interest. "Sergeant."

"Major." He returned over the intercom. "I thought you were off today."

"I am." She nodded knowing everyone thought she was crazy coming in on her days off, and staying after hours to work. "Just taking advantage of the lab without any interruptions."

"Well, have fun."

Tegan waved a silent goodbye and headed up to level 21 to find the quiet solitude of her lab.

* * *

><p>Six hours into her shift Julie looked at the clock. She was getting paid time and a half to be on base and take care of any minor emergencies that arose. Time was creeping by, she felt as if she'd been there for over twelve hours already, and it was only 1300 hrs. That explained her growling stomach. As she headed to her locker to grab her bagged lunch she heard the klaxons come to life. "Medical team report to level 21, corridor C. Medical team to level 21, corridor C."<p>

She frowned lightly. A call for a medical team constituted something more than a minor injury. She grabbed a medical kit as she headed out the main doors. She was the medical team today.

As she rounded the corner onto corridor C she saw a uniformed person on the floor. The shock of red hair immediately identified the officer as Major Kiser. Standing between her and Tegan was security.

"What happened?" Julie rushed to Tegan's side.

"I was making rounds, and found her." He shrugged lightly.

"Major Kiser?" Julie knelt beside her, and started feeling for her carotid pulse. She was surprised to find it strong and steady. Again she tried to verbally arouse her. "Major Kiser?"

A slight shake of her shoulder and she still didn't respond.

"Airman," Julie turned to the SF, "I need you to have switchboard contact Dr. Fraiser and request she return to base ASAP. And then I'm going to need a gurney and some assistance to transfer Major Kiser to the infirmary."

* * *

><p>Janet turned to Shadow again. "What is your problem?"<p>

He'd been sitting at the front door whining for the last ten minutes and she was beginning to wish Cassie hadn't talked Tegan into letting him stay the previous night. "Cassie, Shadow needs to go potty."

"He just came in." Cassie complained as the phone rang, frustrated at his behavior over the last half hour.

"Hello?" A flustered Janet picked up the phone.

"Dr. Fraiser?"

"This is she."

"This is Sergeant Rhodes at the SGC switchboard. Staff Sergeant Copley is requesting that you return to base immediately."

"Cassie, grab Shadow you're going to Sam's." She hung up the phone and hoped the blonde would be home working on her Indian. "I've got to go into work for a little bit."

"But it's the Fourth of July." Cassie complained as they headed out to the car.

"And if I'm not home, Sam can take you to Jack's for the cookout."

* * *

><p>"What's up?" Sam stepped out of the garage as Janet pulled up in the driveway. Her face was streaked with grease and sweat.<p>

"I've been called in. Can you watch Cassie and Shadow?"

"Sure." Sam smiled at the young teen as she clamored out of the back seat. "What's the emergency?"

"I don't know." Janet glanced over her shoulder.

"Come on!" Cassie tugged harder on Shadow's leash.

"Looks like he wants to go to work with your mom." Sam's eyes met Janet's and without speaking one word passed between them, Tegan.

"She said she wasn't going in today." Janet turned back to Cassie. "It's alright, it's not like he hasn't gone to work with me before. If I'm not back in time for the barbeque tell Tegan he's with me."

"Okay." Cassie tossed her end of the leash back in the car before slamming the door. She turned to Sam and wrinkled her nose. "You need a shower."

"You think?" Sam wrapped one arm around her and waved to Janet who was already pulling on to the street.

* * *

><p>Tegan was sitting on the edge of one of the infirmary beds when Shadow came bounding in. "Halt."<p>

He stopped mid stride and stood perfectly still.

Janet stepped past him. "How come he won't do that for me?"

Tegan shrugged and then patted the mattress beside her. "Come, sit."

Shadow jumped up in the proffered spot earning him a healthy ear scratching.

"Where's the emergency?" Janet's eyes wandered over the quiet infirmary as Julie walked in with lab results in her hand.

"You're looking at her." Julie gestured toward Tegan who held her hand out for the report.

"She looks fine to me." Janet comment cautiously.

"I told her to call you back and tell you it was a false alarm."

"Major…" Julie started.

"Doctor," Tegan interrupted.

"Doctor," she tried not to growl. "You were unresponsive for no less than fifteen minutes."

Tegan shrugged her shoulders.

"Fifteen minutes?" Janet turned to Julie.

"Minimum, that's from the time I arrived on scene until she came around."

Janet looked back at Tegan. "Major?"

"Doctor." She grinned sheepishly. "My lab results are within normal limits."

Janet plucked the paper from between Tegan's fingers, as Shadow snuck into lick her cheek. "He was worried about you."

"Really?"

"He was carrying on at the front door for half an hour, and refused to get out of the car with Cassie at Sam's."

"What is it with you?" Tegan asked her four-legged friend while massaging both ears.

"I thought you weren't coming in today?"

"Hadn't really planned on it." Tegan pointed to the bed, and Shadow laid down. "I just decided to take advantage of a quite complex to get some research done. I was actually on my way out when this happened."

"What exactly did happen?" Janet pressed while pulling Julie's stethoscope from around her neck.

"Don't know." Tegan looked to Julie as if the answer would be written on her forehead. "I remember locking the lab up and the next thing I'm aware of, is being in the infirmary with nurse ratchet breathing down my neck. She refused to let me leave until you got here."

"Good call." Janet turned her attention to Julie briefly before pressing the bell of the stethoscope against Tegan's chest. "Deep breath."

"Well?" Tegan watched Janet hand Julie's stethoscope back and request a pen light. She knew the other doctor felt naked out of uniform.

"Any pain anywhere?" Janet checked the pen light's brightness against her palm.

"No, I feel fine."

Janet pointed to a light switch on the far wall. "Fine?"

"I don't feel sick or anything out of the ordinary." Tegan focused on the light switch as Janet shone the light in her left eye. "OW!"

Janet moved the light away as Tegan clinched her eyes shut and pressed her palm into her left eye. Shadow whined briefly until Tegan muttered, "It's ok."

"Headache?"

"No." She continued to hold her hand against her eye. "Felt like somebody shoved a nine inch ice pick through my eye."

"Nine inches huh?" Janet looked to Julie.

"I didn't get that kind of reaction when I checked her pupils earlier."

"Still hurting?" Janet's eyes narrowed on Tegan.

"No." Tegan let her hand drop back to her lap and looked at the petite brunette standing in front of her.

"What time did you leave your lab?"

Tegan looked at her watch not wanting to answer, considering she already knew how long she'd been out within a minute or two.

"Tegan?"

"Twelve-fifteen, twelve-twenty." She didn't look up.

"Julie when did you arrive on scene?" Janet didn't take her eyes off Tegan who continued to stare aimlessly at her watch.

"Thirteen-o-five."

"So you were out for a minimum of forty-five minutes and probably closer to fifty?"

"Yeah." Tegan lifted her head refusing to make eye contact.

"And I suppose if I ask how you feel, you're going to tell me you're fine?" Janet continued with her scrutinizing gaze.

"Yes." She reached over and stroked her hand down Shadow's back.

Janet shook her head while looking over Tegan's labs again. "You drew these?"

"Ran them myself." Julie watched the tension between the two women.

"What's wrong with them?" Tegan's brow wrinkled.

"They're too perfect. Everything is exactly in the middle of normal, and your potassium level isn't ever normal."

"Well, it is today." Tegan grinned lightly.

"When was the machine calibrated last?" Janet ignored her.

"I calibrated it at ten hundred hours. Do you want me to run it again?"

"No." Janet sighed. "What was her pulse when you found her?"

"Sixty-six, strong and regular." She continued before Janet could request more information. "Her blood pressure was one eighteen over seventy-two, temp was ninety eight point two, and her O2 saturation was ninety-eight percent."

"And you didn't have any symptoms?"

Tegan thought for a minute, "No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup." She looked at Janet as Shadow whined. "What?"

"He doesn't believe you either."

"Look, I didn't notice anything different. I would tell you if I had."

"Uh-huh."

"Hey," Tegan defended herself. "I didn't have to tell you what time I left the lab. I could've said I didn't look."

Despite already knowing the answer, she asked anyway. "How are you feeling now?"

"I feel…" Tegan paused not wanting to set off any triggers by her choice of words. "Like I've got a cookout to go to."

"That's not an answer."

"I'm…" She searched for another word.

"Fine?" Janet said it for her.

"Yes." Tegan sighed.

Janet glanced over her labs one more time, they were almost too perfect. "Alright, but you're not driving and you're staying the night with me tonight."

Tegan nodded, which only caused Janet to second guess her decision. "Are you sure you feel ok?"

"To be honest…" Tegan pondered for a second. "I can't remember when I've felt this good."

"Ok?" Janet turned to Julie and thanked her for calling her in and not Warner before they left.


	2. Chapter 2

**Tegan Chronicles**

**Relationships and Minefields 2**

"So what was the big emergency?" Sam asked when Cassie and Shadow took off for Jack's backyard.

"I was." Tegan answered for Janet.

"What happened?" Sam eyed her suspiciously.

"Apparently I lost consciousness for about forty-five minutes."

"What?" Sam's eyes grew big with concern.

"It's no big deal." Tegan brushed it off. To her it wasn't. She didn't feel any different. Well that wasn't true, she felt wonderful, and alive, and yet Janet was smothering her yet again.

Sam glanced at Janet for confirmation but received none. She turned back to her younger comrade and friend. "It's no big deal?'

Tegan offered a left shoulder shrug. "I'm fine."

"I've heard that one before." Sam reminded her.

"Well, it's true. I feel great." Tegan headed for the back yard.

"How do you want your steak Tiki?" Jack spotted her stepping onto the deck.

"Dead and well done, as always."

"You going swimming tonight?" He peered over his sunglasses at her khaki shorts and Hawaiian print button down.

"I think she's going to pass." Janet spoke up from behind her.

"Medium Doc?"

"Yes Colonel, thank you." Janet nodded as Tegan turned to look at her, her disagreement plainly written in her expression. "I just don't think it's wise."

"I am capable of making that decision myself."

"Root beer, or water?" Daniel wished he'd waited a bit longer to offer her a drink, but he'd feel foolish just standing there holding the drinks like he was the scales of justice.

"Root beer." Tegan took the drink out of his left hand as Janet's eyebrows arched up her forehead. "What?"

"Nothing." The brunette shrugged.

"Colonel, how much longer on the steaks?" Tegan slipped her top off revealing a sleek black one piece Speedo that clung to her like a second skin.

Jack swallowed and smiled as he took in the sight. "I just lit the grill."

"I thought we agreed," Janet started as Tegan's shorts hit the wooden deck surrounding the pool.

"No." Tegan turned to her with a defiant look plastered to her face. "You decided."

"I just don't think it's…"

"Wise," Tegan finished for her. "You already said that. Janet, I'm fine."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Her brow creased as her lips pressed into a thin line.

Any normal person would have stopped dead in their tracks, but not Tegan. In one fluid movement she dove under the surface of the water and emerged on the other side. She lifted herself out of the water and turned so she was sitting with her legs hanging over the edge. Sam walked over and handed her a towel, which she wrapped around her shoulders. "Thanks."

"No problem." Sam looked out over the backyard at Cassie and Shadow playing. "You should get Cassie a dog."

"And who is going to take care of it?" Janet dropped into a lounge chair. Her sunglasses perched on top of her head.

"She does a good job with Shadow." Tegan stared off at nothing in particular.

"Yes and a part time dog is about all she and I can handle right now." Janet relaxed slightly as Shadow came bounding unto the deck with Cassie running behind him. He made a B-line for Tegan and laid his head on her thigh with a quiet whimper.

"What's wrong with you?" Cassie glared at her.

"What?" Tegan looked at her and tilted her head to the side.

"You heard me." She put her hands on her hips looking slightly less intimidating than Janet. "He only does that when there's something wrong with you."

"Do I look sick to you?" Tegan sounded like a kid taunting with 'nana nana boo boo.'

Cassie looked at her long and hard before formulating a response. "I guess not."

"Maybe you just wore him out." Tegan stroked his ears.

* * *

><p>Cassie had dozed off in one of the lounge chairs not long after they'd eaten. Shadow was staying vigilantly at Tegan's side, as if he were afraid of what might happen if he left.<p>

"You ok Kiser?" Jack pulled another beer out of the cooler.

"Yup." She stretched her arms above her head, before canting her head toward Cassie. "Think we should get her home?"

"Probably." Janet wasn't worried about Cassie, it was Tegan she was concerned about. She'd been quite most of the night.

"I'll carry her out to the car." Tegan pushed to her feet.

"I've got her." Jack was already scooping the young teenager into his arms.

* * *

><p>"How are you feeling?" Janet asked when she came downstairs the next morning to find Tegan standing watching Shadow through the large sliding glass door.<p>

"I'm great." Her smile reflected in the glass and back to Janet. "Are you going to take me back to base this morning so I can get ready for our 'date'?"

"I don't know."

Tegan turned and leaned against the sun-warmed glass. "You changed your mind?"

"I'm concerned about you."

"I'm telling you, I have never felt better. I don't know what happened yesterday, but I honestly feel great." She watched Janet's eyes for a second. "Besides, I want a seventh kiss and I think two and a half months is too long to wait."

"You've been busy with work."

"I know which is why I don't want to waste tonight because you're 'concerned.'" She made air quotes.

"It's too early in the morning to be having intelligent conversations." Janet protested.

"It's after nine, even Cassie is awake." Tegan turned and opened the door for Shadow to come in. "Look if you want to cancel tonight and you just want me to stay here all weekend, fine. However, I'm warning you before you make your decision that I may not be able to hide my disappointment."

"Fine, I'll take you to get your car when Sam gets here."

Tegan's brow knitted together for a second and then her face lightened. "Chess."

"Yup, it's been nine weeks since SG1 has been home on a weekend."

"I know." Tegan didn't need her to remind her it'd been that long since they'd last kissed or since Nirrti had attacked. She shivered lightly.

"You ok?"

"Yeah." Tegan could read the alarm on Janet's face. "I was just thinking of a really bad Goa'uld."

"I bet I can guess."

"I'd rather you didn't."

* * *

><p>Janet's neighbor Mr. Peterson was out watering his lawn, he had to be in his late fifties although Tegan thought he looked older. He stared in her direction as she pulled into the driveway five minutes early. She opened the door to her classic black Porsche and could feel his eyes travel up her ivory legs as she got out, the glittery threads in the dark blue dress shimmering in the evening light.<p>

"Good evening Mr. Peterson," She called across the lawn as a breeze blew her wavy red locks off her bare shoulders. She wasn't going to let him think he was invisible. She knew he wasn't drooling over her car or because of his age.

He mumbled something unintelligible before turning his attention back to his garden hose.

Cassie pulled the door open just before Tegan made it up the last step, "I thought you were going…"  
>"I am." Cassie shook her head. "Nice dress."<p>

"Are you being sarcastic?"

"No, I like it."

"Cassandra, you can call my cell if you need to get up with me. And let me know if Andrea's parents don't pick you up in the next hour."

"I'll text you." Cassie headed back into the living. "By the way, you're date's here."

Janet stepped into the hallway, "Oh there you are."

"Here I am." Tegan smiled, taking in the sight. Janet had pulled her hair up in a twist, but it was different then she normally wore it at work. She'd pulled a few pieces out and curled them accentuating her face. She was wearing a spaghetti strapped red dress that highlighted her figure perfectly. "You look wonderful."

"Cassandra said I looked like the cherry on top of a sundae."

"Well I happen to like cherries on my sundaes." Tegan turned her head in Cassie's direction.

"Gag me with a spoon!" She called out from the living room.

"Has anyone ever told you, you clean up very nicely Major?" Janet wagged her eyebrows but looked hotter than Jack who somehow always looked dorky when he did it.

"Once or twice." She lowered her voice, "and please never use that 'Major' on base."

Janet smiled seductively before looking around. "I need to grab my purse."

* * *

><p>Dinner was awkward. They were able to get reservations at some high class restaurant where the cheapest entrée was a hundred dollars. From their expressions most of the patrons acted as if they'd never seen two women at dinner together, or maybe they thought this restaurant was too high class for a same sex dinner date.<p>

"Do I have another head growing out of my back?" Tegan asked after paying the bill and standing up to leave.

"No, I thought maybe I did." Janet walked beside her. They hadn't touched each other at all that evening, not even in the ride over, and it surprised Janet when while all these people were staring at them like they were from Mars she felt Tegan tentatively touch her pinkie. She was silently asking for permission to take her hand, and Janet answered in the affirmative as she took Tegan's hand and squeezed it.

"I was tempted to kiss you right there in front of all those people," Tegan laughed as she got in the car.

"Well why didn't you?"

"I didn't want to embarrass you."

"You couldn't embarrass me." Janet watched Tegan slip her shoes off as she started the car. "But you might have made a few of them jealous that they weren't standing in my place."

"No, I think they'd rather be in mine."

"Never."

"Those people wouldn't know what love was if it hit them between the eyes." She wondered if she would.

* * *

><p>"Why don't you come in?" Janet opened her door.<p>

"Ok." It didn't take much persuasion. "As long as you don't mind me changing."

Janet wanted to tell her only if she could watch, but tamped down her desire. "Not at all, I plan on doing the same."

Tegan was sitting on the couch in a pair of cotton shorts and a t-shirt when Janet came down in a nightshirt that stopped mid thigh. "I hope you don't mind."

"You look marvelous." Tegan hopped up and took Janet's hand. "May I have this dance?"

Janet looked at her as if she'd lost her mind. "There's no music."

"There will be."

Janet nodded as Tegan led her in front of the coffee table and pulled her into her arms. She started singing, "'I've never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight. I've never seen you shine so bright. I've never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance. They're looking for a little romance, they won't have the chance. And I've never seen that dress you're wearing, or that highlights in your hair that catch your eyes. I have been blind. Lady in red is dancing with me, cheek to cheek. Nobody here, it's just you and me. That's how I wanna be, because I hardly know this beauty by my side. I never will forget the way you look tonight...'"

When she finished singing she placed a kiss on Janet's forehead, and when Janet tilted her head back she accepted her waiting lips. She opened her mouth eagerly as they discovered one another again, but as if it were the first time. They pulled back at the same time like it had been some rehearsed choreography for the camera.

"I really don't know that much about you." Tegan confessed when their kiss ended.

"What do you want to know?"

"Let's see?" Tegan pretended to think. "What it was like growing up in Oklahoma? Do you have any brothers or sisters? What your family is like, where you went to school, what you like to do outside of work and kissing me."

Janet smiled at the joke before pulling Tegan behind her into the den. She stopped at the bookcase and let go of Tegan's hand. She bent down and Tegan tried not to check out the pink cotton panties under Janet's nightshirt. She was some how certain they weren't the ones she'd worn under her red dress tonight. No, she imagined Janet had been wearing a black thong of sorts, but then she wondered if Janet was so daring.

"Here." Janet handed her a stack of photo albums before pulling a couple year books off the shelf. "Let's go to my room, it'll be easier to spread it all out on the bed."

Tegan let Janet lead the way and dropped the books on the foot of the bed releasing a fresh burst of Tide from the sheets Janet had washed earlier in the day. She briefly wondered if all the sheets had been washed or just Janet's.

"Come here." Janet sat with her legs crossed at the head of the bed and patted the pillow beside her as she grabbed the first photo album.

She showed Tegan pictures of her parents and her younger brother. Then she showed her yearbook pictures, some of the hairstyles she and her friends had were pretty outrageous, not to mention the clothes. Then she pulled out the album Tegan knew was her wedding photo album. "You don't have to…"  
>"I want to." Janet opened it up. "Besides, it has a great ending."<p>

"Wow you were a beautiful bride. I don't think you've changed a bit."

Janet laughed, "I hope I have."

"Maybe you've gotten a little better looking." Tegan smiled.

At the end of the wedding album was a photocopy of the divorce decree signed by a judge. "I told you it had a great ending."

Tegan yawned. "Yup."

"Did I bore you?" Janet watched Tegan settle back on the pillow.

"No, not at all. I loved seeing all the pictures and hearing your stories. Tell me more."

"How about we save the stories for another time?" Janet put the wedding album on top of the others on the floor and laid back beside Tegan. "They aren't going anywhere and we'll have time."

Tegan's eyes slid shut as Janet started playing with her hair. "Ok."

"You need a hair cut." Janet continued to brush her fingers through the red silk, and placed a kiss on the bridge of Tegan's nose.

"Yours is longer."

"Yes, but you don't look as sexy with your hair pulled back as I do."

It was true, Tegan's face was almost gaunt looking when she had her hair up in a bun. "Who told you, you looked sexy with your hair up?"

"You did." Janet teased.

"I did not."

"Well you never said I didn't."

"True." Tegan puckered her lips and Janet bent down and kissed them.

She started to pull back but felt Tegan's hand on the back of her head gently pulling her back down. She didn't fight when she felt Tegan's tongue begging for entry. She couldn't keep her tongue from interrupting Tegan's in its quest to taste every millimeter of her mouth. In the end Tegan gave into the attempts at tongue wrestling, at least for a minute before they both pulled back. Tegan opened her eyes and rolled on her side as Janet settled beside her.

"Will you…"

"Shhh." Tegan interrupted with a kiss and turned off the bedside lamp before wrapping her arms around Janet.


	3. Chapter 3

**Tegan Chronicles**

**Relationships and Minefields 3**

Janet awoke to the sunlight filtering through the blinds and immediately knew something wasn't right. Even without opening her eyes she knew the bed was empty except for her. She thought maybe Tegan was in the bathroom, or had gone downstairs to get a drink, her gut told her otherwise. She opened her eyes and saw the note lying on the pillow beside her. She felt dirty, cheap and used even though they'd done nothing more than kiss. She reached over and picked the note up off the pillow.

Jan,

Sorry remembered Shadow was home and needed to go out.

Call me today!

T-

Janet pulled the pillow to her face and inhaled the lingering scent. She wondered what it would have been like to wake up with Tegan in her arms and it not be because Janet was worried about her. She wondered if Tegan ever wondered about that.

At ten the phone rang. "Hello?"

"I didn't wake you did I?"

"No." Janet put the mindless novel she'd been reading down. She'd gotten over the cheap used feeling after reading Tegan's note, but that didn't mean she wanted to think about her all day.

"Oh."

Janet knew Tegan was frowning even over the line. "I've been busy since I got up."

"Did you get my note? I was afraid you might knock it off, into the floor or something."

"No. I got it."

Tegan was quite for a minute listening to the silence on the phone. "I didn't think you wanted me to wake you at o-five hundred."

"No, I guess not."

Another awkward silence and Tegan finally said, "I'll let you go. I know you're busy."

"Bye." Janet hung up the phone.

Tegan held the phone to her ear until it started beeping and a recording came on telling her to please hang up the phone. She did, and then she put Shadow in the car and headed to base.

* * *

><p>Janet showed up in Tegan lab at five minutes after eight. "I tried calling you several times yesterday, you didn't answer and your cell phone was off."<p>

"I wasn't home, I left for base right after we talked."

"You haven't been working since then?" She tried not to accuse, but failed.

"No, but you can check the security footage if you don't believe me." Tegan hit the power button on her computer. "I just came in, and I didn't even step into the lab yesterday."

"I believe you." Janet's voice softened. "After what happened Friday I was really worried."

"You could have gone by the house."

"Oh trust me I did, but I couldn't tell if the Porsche was in the garage and I don't have a key."

"I'm fine Janet, I still feel great." She made a mental note to get another key made for Janet.

"You haven't passed out or woken up on the floor and wondered how you got there?"

"No." Tegan looked at Shadow who stretched, and turned around to get more comfortable in his bed. "So, what did you call for?"

"To tell you I really enjoyed Saturday night. Maybe we can do it again?"

"Minus the dining out at an up tight hobnob restaurant." Tegan smiled.

"I'll let you get back to work." Janet excused herself.

When Janet returned from lunch there was a single sunflower lying on her desk. She looked around for a note but couldn't find one.

"It's quitting time." Janet stopped by Tegan's lab before heading out.

Tegan glanced at her watch before cutting her microscope off and looking up to see the sunflower in Janet's hand. Her blush quickly gave her away.

"Thank you."

Tegan shrugged. "I didn't know what your favorite flower was. So I thought I'd…"

"You thought you'd what?" She asked when Tegan's voice trailed off.

"Nothing." Tegan slouched out of her lab coat. "I just like sunflowers."

"Well, it's very sweet." Janet received the eye daggers she'd expected from the comment. "Do you want to catch the elevator together?"

"I'm not going home."

Janet looked around the lab.

"I'm going to play racquetball with Pearson and hit the sack."

"I'll see you at o-nine hundred?"

"Oh, thanks for reminding me."

* * *

><p>Janet stepped around the curtain to find Tegan sporting a new do. "You cut your hair?"<p>

"Do you like it?"

"I think it's uber-sexy." Janet stepped into Tegan's space and laid her chart beside her.

"I went out after I finished playing racquetball last night and had it done. I was tired of it, and since I knew you didn't think I was sexy before."

"I never said you weren't sexy." Janet cleared her throat. "I have a job to do, you know. So how are you feeling?"

"Fine." Tegan grinned.

"Hmmm, is that an 'I'm hiding something from you' fine or an 'I'm really ok' fine?"

"It's an 'I'm really ok' fine. I'm better than ok, I'm great."

"So you're still on the great kick." Janet pulled out the labs she'd had Julie run just as precaution. "I don't know what's changed, but your labs are still perfect."

Tegan shrugged. She didn't know either, and really didn't care.

* * *

><p>"Fraiser," Janet answered the phone having recognized the caller id number as one from base.<p>

"Hey." Tegan's voice sounded over the line. "We're back and Paige did my post."

"I take it you made it back in one piece?" Janet had cleared Paige a couple months back to do Tegan's post only if she wasn't on base. She knew Paige wouldn't let Tegan get away with anything.

"I did."

"Are you going home tonight?"

Tegan looked at her watch it was after eleven. "Yeah, I think so. Do you mind keeping Shadow until morning?"

"Not at all."

"Maybe we can go to dinner or something?"

"I'll think of something."

"Ok, well I'll talk to you later."

"Tegan?" Janet stopped her from hanging up.

"Yeah?"

"Never mind." Janet remembered they were on a monitored base line.

"Bye," Tegan laughed.

* * *

><p>Tegan pushed off the couch and crossed the living room; she picked her keys up from the table in the hall and checked her watch. She dropped the keys and headed back to the couch. In the background something played quietly on the stereo as she picked up the remote and flipped aimlessly through channels on the muted TV. She stood up again dropping the remote on the coffee table and slipping on a pair of shoes. She grabbed her keys and helmet and started out the door.<p>

She shut the door and leaned her back against the cool surface letting her helmet clatter onto the hardwood floor, her keys quickly followed landing with a silent thud inside the overturned helmet. Back on the couch she kicked her shoes off not caring where they landed, ignoring the neatness gene she'd inherited.

Three minutes later she was putting her shoes back on, this time she went into the kitchen and pulled the refrigerator door open. The light illuminated her face as she stared listlessly inside. Finally, she pulled out a bottled water and twisted the top off. She looked at the cap before replacing it, and sitting the bottle on the counter. She was going to go insane. She reached for the phone just as it began to ring. She hesitated for a second as she listened for any indication of who was on the other end. "Hello?"

"Tegan?"

"You did call me." She smirked into the darkened kitchen.

"Did I wake you?"

"No," The word came out as a wry laugh. She turned and looked out the window above the kitchen sink, a full moon. "Janet, did you…"

"Tegan?"

"I'm still here." She picked up the bottle of water and pressed it to her forehead.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" Janet almost laughed, but something stopped her.

"What are you doing?"

"Lying in bed staring at the ceiling."

"Cassie sleeping?"

"She's sleeping over at a friend's place, so I hope." Janet waited for Tegan to speak. "So do you know what you're doing?"

"I'm standing in my kitchen." She pulled the refrigerator door open again and placed the water on the top shelf. "I was going to take the Ducati out."

"It's two in the morning."

"I know."

"Can I come over?" Janet finally asked.

"Seriously?"

"It was a stupid question, forget it. I should…"

"Would you be quite," Tegan interrupted. "I would love for you to come over."

"Ok, I'll see you in a bit."

Tegan hung up the phone and pulled her shoes off putting them in the coat closet. She'd showered on base, not that she was going to go jump in the shower just because Janet was coming over. What was she thinking, it was two am, and a full moon. Janet should stay at home in her warm bed where she was safe. As doctors they knew strange things happened when the moon was full.

She looked around the living room everything was perfect and some neo-classical piece was playing on the stereo with it's strong string section. She frowned. There was nothing to do. She looked for any dirt that might need vacuuming or dust that needed wiping away. There wasn't any. She walked back to the bedroom and was reminded of Nirrti, she flipped the light on, the sheets were clean the bed made. She turned around almost expecting someone to be there and felt foolish, she would feel Nirrti's presence and she didn't.

She flipped the light off and stopped in the bathroom checking her hair in the mirror, she ran her fingers through it making sure it looked ok. She pulled open the medicine cabinet and picked up her toothbrush. When she finished brushing her teeth she returned to the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Hey," she greeted from the doorway as Janet got out of the car. Shadow hopped out of the back and ran up to her. "Down, you know better. Go on in."

She watched Janet get her bag out of the car in a white long sleeved oxford button down and a pair of cotton shorts.

"You'd have looked real cute if you'd gotten pulled over."

"I wouldn't have gotten ticket." Janet winked as she walked past Tegan.

Tegan thought she smelled a hint of CK One on Janet, and she was certain it wasn't one of the perfumes she remembered Janet wearing off base. It was one of the few she owned but she thought Janet stuck to the more made for just a woman fragrances.

"I didn't feel like changing." Janet held her bag up as Tegan locked the front door. "But I can."

"No." Tegan took the bag from her. "Make yourself comfortable. I'll be back in a second."

Instead of heading for the living room where Janet heard the faint strains of music, she followed Tegan past the guest room and into her room where Tegan put the bag on the blanket chest at the foot of her bed.

"You know," Janet whispered. "You could do a lot of fun things with that bed."

Tegan rethought the whole Janet in a thong issue and decided maybe she was wrong. Maybe Janet did have it in her. "I've been tied to it before."

"I'm not really into that." Janet was a caregiver not a pain giver. She knew Tegan had had enough pain and torture to last a dozen lifetimes. "I'm sorry, I forgot about…"

"Don't say his name." She could think David, but she didn't want to hear it out loud. She didn't want to be reminded of him, or what he'd whispered in her ear just before dieing.

"I…"

"Shhh." Tegan pulled Janet into her arms and held her. "I only want to think about you and me right now."

Janet squealed as a wet nose pushed against the back of her knee.

Tegan laughed. "Sorry buddy, we get the couch tonight. I'd offer you the guest room but it's a wreck. I just haven't gotten around to unpacking it yet."

"There's no need for you to sleep on the couch, besides I came over because I couldn't sleep."

"Full moon." Tegan commented as if that were the answer to everything. "I need get out of these jeans."

"Don't let me stop you," Janet teased and stepped back.

Tegan called her bluff and pulled until the metal button slipped out of the hole.

"You really were thinking about riding the Ducati." Janet knew she'd be in shorts otherwise.

"Yup."

Janet's eyes were glued to Tegan's slender fingers as they grasped the zipper and yanked it down. She was like a teenage boy with a front row seat in the girls' locker room.

Tegan paused, her shirt stopped at her hips. She'd never done this before. Sure she'd changed in the locker rooms after a volleyball or soccer game, but that was in school. That was with a bunch of girls. This, this was one on one. She'd never taken her clothes off in front of anyone like this. It was Janet, her eyes fixated on her like she was taking in the Venus De Milo for the first time.

She took a deep breath and hooked her thumb and pinky from both hands into the waist of her Levi's and slid them over her hips. Revealing the red, definitely not military regulation bikini panties she was wearing. She didn't dare look up, although if she stopped long enough to think about it she wasn't nervous. She felt like this was as natural as walking.

She pushed them down to her ankles and straightened up. She stepped out of the pile of denim and before she could blink she felt her body being pushed backwards until she was in the hall with her wrists pinned lightly against the wall. Despite having to balance on the balls of her feet to reach her lips Janet was currently in complete control of the situation as she drove her tongue deep into Tegan's mouth. Her strength was amazing and Tegan willingly gave in.


	4. Chapter 4

**Tegan Chronicles**

**Relationships and Minefields 4**

Determined not to push the limits Janet had done little more than smother Tegan in kisses. It was one of the few ways she could smother her without complaint.

At nine Tegan slipped out of bed and let Shadow out to take care of his morning needs, and to chase a rabbit out of the yard. He was after all her mighty protector, and that rabbit could have been sent from the evil land of dust bunnies beyond hell. She slipped quietly back into bed beside Janet and kissed her check gently. Janet smiled sleepily.

"You do remember where you are, right?" Tegan whispered in her ear.

"Sam's?" Janet deadpanned.

"Fine, I'm not telling you where the coffee is." Tegan couldn't help but laugh.

Janet rolled over and pulled Tegan down to meet her lips placing a gentle kiss on them.

"Fine, I'll make you coffee." Tegan rolled out of bed.

"I'm coming with." Janet slid out the other side and followed her down the hall.

"What do you want for breakfast?" Tegan opened the freezer and pulled out the coffee. She'd heard somewhere it kept it fresher.

Janet watched as Tegan opened the refrigerator that was empty minus a few eggs, some condiments, and an array of canned drinks and bottled water. "Maybe we should go out for food, or at least to the grocery store."

"I've got food." Tegan pulled the milk out and looked at the date. It was so old it needed a tombstone. She put it back rather than have it get warm and smell up the house. She turned to the cabinets and pulled out flour, baking soda, a can of evaporated milk, vanilla and maple syrup. She turned back to the fridge and pulled out an egg. "Pancakes."

Janet nodded.

Tegan grabbed an orange crush to go with her pancakes, it was the closet thing she had to orange juice at the moment. She skipped the syrup and ate about half of what she put on her plate.

"It's delicious," Janet spoke between bites. "I don't think I've ever had pancakes from scratch before. Where did you learn to cook?"

"I don't know." Tegan shrugged. "I took six weeks of home economics in school, guess I picked it up there."

"If I didn't know better I'd think you were a chemistry major."

"Probably my weakest science." Tegan picked at the remains on her plate as the phone rang.

"Hello?" She picked up the phone. "How did you get this number? – I guess. – Alright I'll see you tonight."

Janet carried her plate to the kitchen.

"That was Oscar, his entertainment for the night canceled and he wants me to step in."

"That's great."

"I'm thinking about calling Paige and see if she wants to help out."

"I didn't know she was musically inclined."

"Yeah, we had a little a cappella group that sang at a club. We were the Knight-n-Gales. There were four of us."

"Really?" Janet smiled; Tegan was actually sharing something about her past without having to be asked.

"Yeah, it was Greg, Paige, and this broad Flo she was a real character. Hence the Knight-n-Gales. Greg was the Knight and we were the Gales. We had a lot of fun, and it was something to do every other weekend, and a pretty upscale club." Tegan frowned. "I'm sorry we were going to make plans for tonight."

"We just did." Janet brushed against her as she passed to get Tegan's plate.

"No, I can call Oscar back and tell him I forgot a previous engagement."

"Did you hear me?" Janet lifted a brow and turned with the plate in her hand to face Tegan. "I said 'we' made plans, not 'you' made plans. I love hearing you sing, it'll be fun."

"What about Cass?"

"She's fourteen, I'll order pizza and she'll probably be in bed before we leave, and if not she will be soon after."

"Shadow can stay with her."

"See," Janet's smile grew, "it's perfect. I should get home before Cassie gets there and I'm not."

"You are going to change right?"

"Nope," Janet looked down. "Well maybe into better shorts. I'm going straight home."

"Just don't speed, and you shouldn't have any problems." She leaned in and kissed Janet. "I'll pick you up around nine-thirty."

* * *

><p>"No." Tegan repeated for the third time.<p>

"Come on it'll be like old times." Paige looked across the bar at Oscar who was straightening up. "I'll call you tomorrow and give you an answer."

Tegan shook her head as she slid off the barstool and headed over to where Janet was waiting. "Sorry, I know it's late."

"Don't worry about it, Sam offered to give me a ride and I wanted to wait for you."

"We're going to talk about this after you've gotten some sleep." Paige walked up behind them. "It'll be just like old times, and I can do it on my own when you're off world."

"It's not just like old times. No Greg and no Flo means no Knight-n-Gales."

"You didn't like Flo anyway." Paige held the door open as Janet and Tegan walked through.

"I liked Flo."

"Call me when you get up." Paige sighed. "I'm going to do it with or without you, so you might as well just agree to it. Besides it's only two weekends a month."

"Bye." Tegan closed her car door effectively ending the conversation.

"What have you got to lose?" Janet's question was innocent.  
>"Not you too." Tegan turned the engine over. "I'll sleep on it."<p>

"Speaking of sleep, why don't you stay the night?"

"I can't." Tegan pulled out of Mac's.

Janet was quite until they pulled into her driveway and Tegan cut the lights. "You can't?"

"No, I can't." She repeated and gently traced Janet's jaw with her thumb until she reached her chin. She leaned in and kissed her deeply drawing her into her mouth. When she pulled back she let her hand fall away. "Do you want me to get Shadow?"

"I want you to stay the night."

Tegan sighed, "I can't."

"Why?" Janet's question was a cross between a beg and a whine.

"Because, I can't, Janet, I just… no matter how badly I want to stay the night I can't. I can't sleep with you, and I can't sleep in the guest room knowing you're lying in that queen size bed down the hall all by yourself."

"I didn't say you couldn't sleep with me."

"Cassie's home."

"Cassandra is a big girl, she'll deal with it."

"I can't Janet. It's not just her. I can't get your hopes up on something I don't even know…"

Janet leaned in and quieted her with her lips, she pulled back resting her head against Tegan's forehead. "Shhhh, don't even think it. I know you're afraid…"

"I'm not afraid."

"Ok." She sat back and looked at Tegan. She knew she had to let Tegan move at her own pace. "I'll just bring Shadow in with me Monday, unless you want to come get him tomorrow, I mean later today."

"No, Monday's fine." Tegan got out of the car and walked Janet to the door. "I'll be on base if you need to get up with me."

"You're not planning on working are you?" Janet unlocked the door.

"Technically no, I need to go through some stuff in my quarters."

"Alright." Janet kissed her. "I had fun tonight, and I think you should reconsider Oscar's offer."

"I said I would sleep on it." She kissed Janet again, as she started to caress Janet's back her right hand accidentally slipped inside the back of her shirt feeling the silky warm skin and causing Janet to shift closer to her. She took her left hand and pushed the door open and carefully backed Janet into the house before she broke the kiss. "I really have to go."

"We could always take a cold shower together." Janet smirked.

"I think that defeats the purpose of a cold shower." Tegan leaned in and placed a kiss on Janet's forehead.

"Tegan." Janet grabbed her hand before she could step off the porch.

"Yes?" Tegan turned back hoping Janet wouldn't ask her to stay again, her resolve was crumbling.

"I love you."

Tegan nodded as her stomach clenched down on what felt like a million snakes slithering in a ball. "Try and get some sleep."

* * *

><p>"Cassandra?" Tegan called out as she let herself in Monday afternoon.<p>

"I'm in the den," Cassie called out from behind her mother's desk where she was working on a painting. "Where's mom?"

"One of the doctors called in and she had to work a double." Tegan appeared in the doorway with Shadow at her side. "Watercolor?"

"Yeah, do you use them?"

"Watercolors hate me." Tegan laughed. "What do you want for dinner?"

Cassie turned to see Tegan had changed out of her uniform on base. "Whatever."

"What do you want to eat?"

"Pizza." She smiled.

"Try something a little healthier."

"Why, are you actually going to eat?"

Tegan stood there silently. It was bad enough she had to take it from Janet, but it wasn't worth trying to argue with the teen.

"That's what I thought. I want pepperoni with extra cheese, and don't order from Fran's their crust is soggy."

"You know next time Janet has to work over I'm going to let one of the guys come over and stay with you." She knew the threat was useless.

"That's fine, they always order pizza, Sam too."

"Which is why your mom asks me to watch you."

"I'm fourteen, I don't need a babysitter." Cassie argued.

"Fine." Tegan threw her hands in the air. "Shadow and I will just go home and leave you in this big house all alone."

"Fine, fix whatever you want for dinner." Cassie caved.

* * *

><p>"Tegan." Cassie wiped at her upper lip when Tegan looked in her direction.<p>

Tegan mimicked the movement only to feel something slick and warm. "Sorry." She covered her nose and mouth with a napkin and slid her chair back. "Excuse me."

"Sure." Cassie dropped the last few bites of her grilled cheese sandwich on her plate no longer interested in eating as Tegan slipped into the small bathroom off the dining room.

"I could have gotten those."

Cassie jumped when she heard Tegan behind her.

"Sorry," Tegan smiled. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"Thought you were still in the bathroom." Cassie cut the water off and picked up a towel to dry the frying pan.

"You didn't have to do dishes."

""You cooked." Cassie shrugged. "I put your soup in the fridge. Your sandwich had blood on it so I threw it out."

"I was done anyway." Tegan watched her roll her eyes. "What was that for?"

"You didn't even touch your dinner."

"I did."

"All two bites of it." Cassie slammed the cabinet door shut and threw the towel on the counter.

"How's your painting coming?" Tegan changed the subject.

Cassie blew at her bangs before pulling a paper towel off the roll and shoving it into Tegan's chest. "You're bleeding again."

"It's just a bloody nose." Tegan spun around as Cassie stomped out.

* * *

><p>"Hey."<p>

"That's what mom always says." Cassie looked over the book she was reading.

Tegan smiled. "I know. It's this annoying habit I picked up from her. Moby Dick unabridged?"

"Yeah." Cassie looked at the cover.

"Please tell me someone is making you read that."

"Nope."

"Well then, I'm here to tell you to stop reading it. At least for tonight, it's getting late."

Cassie picked up her bookmark from the nightstand. "It's not that bad."

"Crazy guy chases after big white whale, I know, I read it." Tegan watched her put the book in a drawer and check her alarm clock. "So what do you want me to sing?"

"I don't care." Cassie shrugged.

"You don't care?"

"Nope, you pick."

"Hmm… 'You spin me right round baby right round'…" Her voice trailed. "No, that's too 80s. Let's try, 'Spiderman, Spiderman your friendly neighborhood man. Look there! Where? There goes a Spiderman.' You don't like that one?" She watched Cassie roll her eyes. "Ah, I've got the perfect one. 'What do you get when you kiss' Dante? 'You get enough germs to catch pneumonia and after you do he'll never phone you.' Ah, 'never fall in love again, no never fall in love again."

Cassie threw her pillow at Tegan who caught it as it hit her chest. "His name's Dominic."

"I know, but it wouldn't fit in the song, and that means you have kissed him." Tegan sat on the edge of the bed and handed Cassie her pillow back.

"No!" Cassie hugged the pillow. "We're just friends."

"Ah, that's right boys have coodies."

"Whatever." Cassie looked hard at Tegan as she changed the subject. "Are you going to tell Janet about your nose?"

"She's Janet now?"

"Mom," Cassie shrugged.

"It was just a bloody nose Cass. It's nothing to worry about. You forget I'm a doctor too."

"No, I didn't." She put her pillow behind her. "Mom says you're hardheaded."

"And you agree?" Tegan brushed the teen's bangs out of her eyes.

Cassie nodded. "You didn't eat tonight."

"And?"

"There's this girl at school." Cassie picked at her sheets. "And she didn't eat, she got really thin. Then one day she just didn't show up for class and she didn't come back before school let out for summer break."

"One, I'm not anorexic, and two you should know by now you can't get rid of me that easily. Now get some rest and stop worrying so much. Ok?"

"Only if you promise to tell mom about the bloody noses."

"Fine."

"Promise."

"I promise. You drive a hard bargain for a kid."

"I know." She smiled proudly as Tegan shut off the light.


	5. Chapter 5

**Tegan Chronicles**

**Relationships and Minefields 5**

When Cassie stepped into the hallway in the morning she saw Tegan backing out of Janet's room in a t-shirt and lose shorts pulling the door closed as she went. She jumped slightly when she turned and saw Cassie standing there. "Shhh, try not to wake her up. I'll drop you off at swim practice this morning."

Cassie noticed the unmade bed as she passed the guest room.

When Tegan appeared next it was in the kitchen and she was dressed in her uniform. "You ready?"

Cassie closed the dishwasher. "Did you tell her?"

"I will."

"You promised."

"Cass, I keep my promises, but I was up until after one and your mom didn't get in until after I fell asleep. Ok?"

"Ok."

Janet rolled over and felt the warmth of the sun on her face as the light filtered through her closed eyelids. She opened her eyes and let them lazily slide shut again. It was a second later that she realized the room was filled with daylight, and not the first rays of morning light. Her heart rate doubled, her eyes popped open and she rolled toward her alarm clock. Instead of finding the time she found a note.

Good Morning!

Hope you slept well.

I took the morning shift in the infirmary, see you later.

Tegan

Janet smiled at the large smiley Tegan had drawn, as a sigh of relief washed over her. She pulled the note off to find it was just after eleven.

"Major Kiser." Tegan answered the phone in Janet's office having already been told who was on the line.

"Thanks for letting me sleep in."

Tegan smiled at the warmth of Janet's voice. "My pleasure."

"I need to grab a shower and I'll be in."

"Make it a nice long bubble bath." Tegan picked up a pen from Janet's desk and started twirling it between her fingers. "Dr. Kheng has already called in for tonight, and since you just pulled a double shift you should just chill and come in at sixteen-hundred."

"And General Hammond agrees."

"He will when he hears my reasoning." Tegan laughed. "Besides, you're over staffing the infirmary, and he knows I'm filling in for you right now."

"Oh, so that means you're in charge of staffing today?"

"No, I don't want that headache."

"Alright, I'll see you around sixteen-hundred then."

* * *

><p>"Hey." Janet stood in the doorway to her office at fifteen-forty-five.<p>

"You're early."

"Fifteen whole minutes."

"Well there's nothing to report. The infirmary is empty. I sent Sergeant Morgan home, his neuro checks were fine and I saw you were planning to do the same. Everything else was pretty routine. SG3 made it back early so you won't have to do their posts tonight."

"That's good." Janet smiled. "Barring any emergencies I should get out of here on time tonight."

"Yeah," Tegan responded almost absent mindedly.

"You ok?"

"Did Cassie get home before you left?"

"She did. We had about ten minutes before I had to leave, just enough time for her to fill me in on her day." Janet looked at her watch. "Unless you've got something you need to finish, I'll take over from here."

"Actually." Tegan stood up. "Think you could give me five minutes off the record?"

"Off the record?" Janet watched Tegan nod. "Just five?" Another nod. "Alright."

"Last night during dinner I had a bloody nose." Tegan struggled to find the words. "It, uh, stopped pretty quickly but was followed by another one that lasted a little longer."

"How much longer?"

"Twenty minutes." Tegan could feel Janet's visual scrutiny.

"And you're worried about this?"

"No, Cassie is. She made me promise I would tell you."

"Hello." Sam appeared in the doorway. "I was just heading out and thought I would stop by."

"Hey." Janet turned to Sam. "Do you have any plans for the next couple hours?"

"No?"

"Think you could go hang out with Cassie until Tegan's done here?"

"I can stay the night, or take her to my place if you want." Sam offered. "I know the infirmary has been a little chaotic lately."

"That'd be great if you don't mind."

"You know I don't." Sam looked over at Tegan. "You want me to take him with me."

"Sure." She smiled, and patted her leg getting Shadow's attention. "Go with Sam. I'll call Cassie and let her know you're coming over.

"Mom?"

"No," Tegan laughed lightly. "I was calling to let you know Sam's on her way over. I've got some things going on here."

"Did you keep your promise?"

"I did."

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. Are we playing twenty questions?"

Cassie ignored her. "Has it happened again?"

"No." Tegan felt something drip out of her nose and reached up to feel the wetness.

"Would you lie to me?"

"No." She pulled her hand away and stared at her fingers, her thumb rubbing the red liquid off them.

"Ok, I trust you."

"Cassie." She debated not telling her. "I've got to go, it started again."

"Tegan?"

"I'm fine, and your mom's right here."

"I love you."

Tegan wrinkled her brow wondering where that had come from. "I love you too kid."

She put the receiver back in the cradle and took the Kleenex from Janet's outstretched hand.

"Why did you tell her?" Janet indicated her nose with her eyes.

"Because," Tegan looked up holding the tissue to her nose, "she asked if I would lie to her. I said no, and it started. Then she told me she trusted me, so I felt guilty not telling her."

"You know this goes on the record now."

"Five minutes?"

"It's up."

"Then the conversation is over."

"That's fine, but you're still standing in my office with a bloody nose." Janet reminded. "So, when did it start again?"

"Well," Tegan said thoughtfully.

"Did it ever stop?" Janet had a suspicion she wasn't going to like the answer.

"It's sporadic." It was the best answer Tegan could come up with.

"How sporadic?"

Tegan stood there quietly and pulled the tissue away to find it had stopped.

"Tegan?"

"It bled a couple, a few times," She corrected; "The weekend of the attack."

"And you didn't tell me?" She could feel the heat growing in her chest.

Tegan shrugged.

"The shampoo?"

So she was still harboring that. Tegan nodded sheepishly.

"Damn it Tegan! When are you going to learn to trust me?" Janet wasn't entirely sure who she wanted to be right now the upset girlfriend or the angry doctor. Either way she was seething.

Tegan hoped it was a rhetorical question and decided to skip it regardless. "It stopped after that, and I've had one or two minor ones off world. Both times we were on a planet with a dry atmosphere and I chalked it up to that."

Tegan had saved her from choosing, so she put upset girlfriend on the shelf at least for the moment. She jotted a few notes down and looked back at Tegan. "Go on."

"Just for the record, both of those were after I did whatever I did on the fourth."

"So we're talking the last two weeks?"

"Yes, one was mid week, the other was about a week later, give or take a day."

"And since then?"

"They started Sunday." She reached up with the tissue she was still holding as she felt the ooze of another one. "They've been getting more frequent since."

Janet sighed. "I want to run some basic labs, check your hemoglobin and iron levels. I also want to run another PET scan of your head. But let's start by letting me check you over."

Tegan stood up and led the way to the infirmary where Janet pulled out an otoscope and looked up Tegan's nose for any sign of where the blood was coming from. When she didn't find any she went ahead with the other tests.

"I'm at a loss." Janet walked into the infirmary with Tegan's labs and PET films in hand. "Everything's normal."

"So?"

"I'm removing you from mission status until further notice. I'll talk to General Hammond tomorrow."

"See this is why I didn't say anything sooner. You're overreacting." Tegan jumped off the bed she was sitting on. "It's a simple bloody nose."

"You said it's been getting worse." Janet reminded. "And what if it doesn't get better, or something happens in the field?"

"I feel fine."

"You always feel fine, you're going to be saying that when you're dead."

"I can't keep doing this." Tegan huffed.

"Good because neither can I." Janet looked around despite knowing her staff was at dinner. "If you can keep something like this from me, what else are you keeping from me?"

"It was a freaking bloody nose." She scoffed.

"I need you to trust me and if you can't trust me then there's nothing to build this relationship on."

Tegan moved around her.

"Where are you going?" Janet demanded. She couldn't believe Tegan was just going to walk away.

"I don't know." Tegan felt something so deep inside she couldn't even tell where it came from, or describe what it felt like, all she knew was it was something medicine couldn't fix.

* * *

><p>Janet tried calling Tegan's house and cell phones several times, it wasn't until her shift ended and she entered the parking complex that she noticed Tegan's car was still there. She thought about going back in to make sure she wasn't in her lab, but decided she wouldn't. It wasn't that she didn't care. She wished she didn't care, but right now she just couldn't handle it.<p>

* * *

><p>Tegan was surprised Janet didn't come by her lab the following day. She was even more surprised Thursday morning when she still hadn't been removed from the mission list. She was sitting waiting for her permission physical when Paige came around the curtain. "Where's Janet?"<p>

"She asked me to do your exam." Paige opened Tegan's chart. "What's going on between you two?"

"The same thing that always happens when I try to get in a relationship, which is why I should have given up after Greg."

"Ok, I'm not going to even touch the Greg issue, because it never would have worked out. Sure he would have done everything in his power to make it work, but it wasn't meant to be."

"Yeah, well neither is this one."

"You're so full of it." Paige tossed her chart on the bed. "I'm not going to allow you to delude yourself into thinking for one minute that Janet doesn't love you, that she isn't in love with you. And you, can you honestly tell me you aren't in love with her?"

"Don't you have a physical to do?" Tegan narrowed her gaze on her friend.

"Yup, that's what I thought." Paige pulled out her stethoscope and listened to Tegan's lungs. "When was your last nose bleed?"

Tegan thought for a second.

"If you're thinking about lying to me, you're not going."

"When have I ever lied to you?"

"You're not going to get me to forget the question."

"Last night, around eight."

"See that wasn't so hard. How bad was it?"

"A few drops, should I have saved the tissue?"

"The world isn't out to get you." Paige reminded her. "You're cleared to jump."

* * *

><p>Janet stepped around the curtain Saturday morning, as per usual she'd saved Tegan for last.<p>

"Couldn't push me off on Paige today?" She didn't mean to sound venomous.

"I didn't push you off on Paige, I had a full schedule." It was true, but she could have given Paige one of her other physicals to do. "Besides, she let you jump and I doubt I would have."

"She made an educated decision."

"And I back her up." Janet pulled out her penlight. "Is there anything I need to know?"

"No." Tegan's tone softened. She wanted to say more, but she couldn't. "The mission was uneventful."

* * *

><p>Janet sat in her office Tuesday afternoon watching the security monitor to Tegan's lab when Sam stepped into the doorway. "Just go talk to her."<p>

"She's working." Janet looked up at Sam. "Do you want to come to dinner tonight?"

"I'm not going to be the replacement date."

"I'm not asking you to be. I just thought Cassie might like having someone new at the dinner table."

"Go talk to her Janet."

"She's the one who walked out on our last conversation."

"Fine." Sam shook her head. "Just throw it away because you're both too hardheaded to work it out, I'm not going to lose sleep over it."

At five o'clock Janet grabbed her things as Tegan shut down the lab and ran to catch her at the elevator. When she reached the elevator bays Tegan was standing waiting for an elevator that was going down and not up. She reached past her and pushed the button to catch one heading topside. "If you could call Cassie she'd appreciate it."

"Yeah." Tegan looked at Janet and bit her lower lip as the elevator doors opened. "Looks like my ride's here."

Tegan called Cassie and let her know she wasn't working Friday and if her mom said it was ok she'd take her kayaking. Janet agreed and Tegan showed up Friday at six in the morning.

"Where are the kayaks?" Cassie asked when she came out to find the Porsche in the driveway.

"We're renting one, I don't have a car I can put mine on, and it's a one-seater."

"You mean I don't get to have my own kayak?"

"Not until you've got some training and experience under your belt."

The conversation was light until they got to the Outfitters and Tegan let Cassie pick out their Kayak. She picked a lime green one, and they loaded it in the water. Once they both had their life jackets and sunscreen applied they got in.

"So, what's up between you and mom?" Cassie didn't even wait for Tegan to push off from the shoreline.

"Nothing." Tegan answered from her position behind the teen.

"Then how come I had to get her permission for today, and you didn't even come in to say hi to her this morning?"

"Sometimes grown ups do stupid things." Tegan dipped her paddle hard steering the kayak. "I did something stupid."  
>"So apologize."<p>

"Sometimes it isn't that easy."

"You didn't cheat on her did you?"

"One, I don't think…" Tegan watched Cassie turn to look back at her. "No, I would never hurt anyone on that level, especially not Janet."

Cassie smiled. "Then say you're sorry and get it over with. You can take her out this weekend to a nice dinner and make up."

"I'm working this weekend, one of the doctor's who was scheduled to work this weekend needed to go home to sing in her brother's wedding so I told her I'd cover her shifts."

"Paige?"

"Yeah." Tegan splashed Cassie with her paddle. "We're out here to have fun and not to talk about serious stuff."


	6. Chapter 6

**Tegan Chronicles**

**Relationships and Minefields 6**

Tegan had been too busy the following week to give much thought to what Cassie had said. The only time she really thought about Janet was when she was lying in her quarters staring at the ceiling wishing she were lying next to her. But now Janet was standing there in her lab. "You're not listening to me."

"I am listening to you," Tegan growled as the timer beeped it had reached its goal. "It's just that I can't just drop everything and come to dinner tonight."

It wasn't like Janet had even come in asking her out to dinner, she'd come in saying Cassie really wanted her to come over for dinner.

"I'm in the middle of something." As she spoke she grabbed for the beaker she'd been timing, her eyes never leaving Janet as the guilt started eating at her. "I've got work to – OUCH! – Damn it!"

The words flew without thought as the hot glass melted the latex glove to her left hand. She tried to hold onto the beaker long enough to get it back on the counter, but the pain was so intense her reflexes had other plans. Without her consent her fingers opened and spread testing Newton's law of gravity. The beaker fell to the ground faster than an over ripe apple, and shattered into a thousand pieces as the hot liquid spattered and pooled on the polished concrete.

"Shit!" Tegan slammed her right fist on the counter causing the glass vials to rattle in their rack.

Janet watched the whole thing in slow motion unable to warn Tegan she was about to pick up the heated beaker without protection. The rest just followed like a car accident, an unstoppable chain of events. She jumped lightly as Tegan's fist connected with the counter top, effectively returning time to its normal pace.

Janet looked at Tegan who stood there looking at her hard work, which lay in ruin at her feet. Her left hand was held protectively in front of her, palm up, fingers partially curled. "I need to take a look at that."

"I don't have time." Tegan shook her head as Janet stepped up. "It's fine."

"You burned yourself." Janet reached out for her arm.

"It's nothing." Tegan pulled back turning away from Janet and moved swiftly to the sink and turning the faucet on she held her hand under the steady stream of cold water.

"You need to go to the infirmary."

"I can handle this," She snapped.

"It wasn't a suggestion."

"Do you always have to play that card?" Tegan glared over her shoulder.

"Do you always have to be so hardheaded?" Despite Tegan's bitterness, Janet remained calm.

Tegan looked once more to the mess on the floor. "I've got to clean that up."

"I'll get housekeeping to take care of it."

"It's biohazardous."

"They're trained to clean up biohazardous waste," Janet reminded. "Now you're just making up excuses, and not very good ones."

Tegan turned the water off and carefully pulled at the latex. She grunted under her breath and looked over at Janet who stood there with her arms folded over her chest. Rather than waiting for her foot to start tapping, she gave in. "Fine."

"Grab a bed," Janet pointed as she made a b-line for the supply cabinet. "Lidocaine?"

"Yes," Tegan carefully scooted onto the bed without the use of her left hand, which she was keeping cradled in front of her.

"That bad?"

"If you're going to be pulling that melted crap off I'm going to need something."

"Don't take it out on me. I'm not the one who told you to grab a hot beaker without proper protection."

"No, you just…"

"I just what?" Janet stepped around the curtain with her arms full of supplies.

"Nothing." Tegan stared at the floor. "I should've been paying attention to what I was doing."

She wasn't entirely sure why there was this wedge between them. She understood Janet was upset and felt like she didn't trust her, which couldn't be further from the truth. Of course right now wasn't really the time to discuss it. Her hand currently burned like nothing she'd ever felt outside of the torture imparted from Nirrti.

"How long had you been working on that?"

"All week." She grimaced.

"If it's hurting that much and I haven't even touched it, why don't we try a nerve block?"

"Wrist?"

"I was thinking axillary."

"Let's try wrist." Tegan didn't want her whole arm numb.

"I'm going to have to do more injections."

Tegan nodded her stomach quivering from the pain.

Janet drew up the lidocaine solution. "Copley I could use an emesis basin and an extra set of hands."

"Yes ma'am." She immediately crossed the infirmary and put the stainless steel basin in Tegan's right hand. "Try not to vomit on my clean uniform Major."

Normally Tegan would've had a snappy come back, instead white knuckles curled into a death grip around the edges of the small metal bowl.

"Morphine?" Janet asked before inserting the needle into Tegan's wrist.

She jumped as electricity shot up and down her arm. "Bingo, you hit the ulnar nerve, let's see if you can go for two. And no I don't need morphine."

"Suit yourself." Janet grinned lightly as she hit the median nerve.

"Assuming those were the right nerves I won't feel anything soon."

Janet waited about eight minutes before checking Tegan's hand.

"You're good to go." Tegan just hoped it stayed that way through Janet's treatment.

Janet took a sterile set of forceps and started peeling back the latex. It was like trying to peel high-end packing tape off a cardboard box without ripping any of the brown paper off with it. Layers of Tegan's skin were sloughing off and coming with it. At one point Janet sat the forceps aside and refused to go on.

"You really did a number this time." Janet looked at the damage she could see as she wiped the sheen of perspiration from her forehead with the arm of her lab coat. "I'm afraid you've got ligament and tendon involvement."

There was no questioning the fact. Tegan shrugged, picked up the forceps and started stripping more latex and skin away.

"Stop."

"Why?" She looked up at Janet. "I can't feel it."

Janet took the forceps away. "This could be career changing for you."

"Where's Sam? She can use the healing device on it." She wasn't worried about the possibility of losing use of her hand, not at this point in the game.

"She left at noon with a headache, and the healing device is currently at area fifty-one."

"So we get it Monday, and after a few treatments I'm as good as new."

Janet grunted.

"Which means we need to get the rest of this latex off. Preferably before the block the block wears off."

"I want you to stay with me," Janet commented as she put the final piece of tape on the dressing.

"Not going to happen."

"I can give you morphine over the weekend if you stay with me. Once that block wears off in another hour or so you're going to need it."

"You can write me a script for Lorcet. I've got a gig at Mac's this weekend."

"Paige can do it."

"Janet," Tegan stood up, "you can either write me a prescription or not. My answer is final."

Without a word Janet pulled out her prescription pad and scribbled out an RX. "I want to see you at o-eight-hundred Monday morning."  
>Tegan plucked the slip of paper from her fingers.<p>

"Dressing changes…"

"I know how to take care of it."

* * *

><p>"What happened?" Jack asked when he saw her bandaged hand in Mac's the following night. Daniel and Teal'c were behind him listening in.<p>

"A little accident in the lab."

"Little?"

"Hopefully we can get the healing device back from area fifty-one Monday. We should keep it on base anyway, and it will be little." She'd been surprised when the block had worn off and the pain was so bad she almost made her way to the infirmary to beg Dr. Warner to euthanize her. The Lorcet took the edge off and four hours later when she popped her second dose of two pills she was actually able to sleep.

That morning it wasn't hurting nearly as much and she thought it even looked better. Curious she went to her lab and took pictures with the digital camera there. She did the same a few hours before leaving for Mac's and although she couldn't be sure, she thought she saw an improvement. And the pain had receded as long as she didn't try to move her fingers.

"You made it." Paige came up and hugged her. "I tried calling you last night."

"I'm not going to be able to play tonight."

"We can do it all a cappella, or I can play a few things on the guitar." Paige held up her case. "I've got a request for tonight if the person shows up."

"What song?"  
>"It's a solo." She smiled.<p>

"I need to talk to you." Tegan moved away from the guys.

"Girl talk." Jack shrugged.

"We've got time." Paige checked her watch. "I already warmed up."

Tegan nodded and pointed to the back door. "Somewhere quite."

"So?" Paige asked when they were in the quiet alleyway.

"You remember that kiss?"

"The kiss to make Teal'c's kiss work?"

"Yeah that one."

"Don't get me wrong Tegan, but you didn't drag me out here," she pointed to the smelly dumpster, "to talk about a no sparks kiss."

"I'm in love."

"I know." Paige smiled. "Sparks and butterflies, the works."

"Yeah, but it's not going to work."

"Why not?"

"Because it never does." Tegan stared at the graffiti on the wall.

"You've never been in love." Paige knew despite loving Greg, Tegan had never really been in love with him.

"I don't know what to do. I think she's ready to call it quits."

"All I can tell you is to speak from the heart."

"But…"

Paige put her finger over Tegan's lips. "Just trust me. Better yet, trust her."

"They're here." Paige announced more to herself than anyone else as they walked back into Mac's.

"Who?" Tegan questioned from behind Paige.

"The person who requested the solo dedication." Paige dared not give away who it was. "I want you to wait here."

Tegan shrugged and looked around the bar. It was pretty close to capacity. Oscar said the nights she and Paige preformed were his best.

"I know I don't normally do requests, but a close friend of mine challenged me to learn a new song. I've been working on it for a little under two weeks and I think I've got it down." Paige pulled the stool up behind her and adjusted her guitar. "The song is Stay by Michelle Featherstone, and it goes out from J to T."

She glanced at Tegan before she started singing:

"If I build a wall  
>a hundred feet tall<br>would that keep you in?

If I shackled your feet  
>so you couldn't leave<br>would you try and run?

If I promise not to fight  
>at least not tonight<br>would you stay the night?

If I wore that little dress  
>that you like the best<br>would you pass my test?

Would you stay?  
>Would you stay with me?<p>

If I was sincere  
>whispered my fears<br>would you still be here?

Would you stay?  
>Would you stay with me?<br>Would you stay?  
>Would you stay with me?<br>With me?

If I build a wall  
>a hundred feet tall<br>would that keep you in?"

Tegan had heard the song before and she realized Paige had left out a verse, but figured it was because she didn't drink and she briefly wondered who had decided not to include the verse. She stepped up to the microphone. "Two weeks? I could've learned it in two days."

Tegan winked at Paige before she squinted across the sea of laughing patrons to see Janet making her way to the exit. She shouted, "Stop!" When Janet didn't she continued, "'In the name of love, before you break my heart.'"

"'Think it over.'" Paige immediately picked it up, it was a routine they'd done when they were still a part of the Knight-n-gales and Greg and Flo needed a break.

The rest of their first set was pretty much by the seat of their pants. They hadn't really decided on songs ahead of time, so they just sang whatever popped in their head. When they took their first break Tegan told Paige her hand was beginning to hurt.

"Go home and take something for pain. I'll take care of the second half." Tegan had been acting funny since the first song anyway.

"Thanks, I owe you."

"You always do." Paige winked.

Tegan started making her way to where her team was, she held her hand up at chest level which kept most of the patrons clear. It really was hurting, but nothing she couldn't work through if she had too. Sam met her halfway.

"What happened to Janet?"

"Cassie called with an upset stomach. She went a birthday party earlier tonight and Janet thinks it was too much cake and ice cream."

Tegan nodded. "Thanks, I'm heading out."

Sam watched her indicate her hand. "I'll let the guys know. And Jack already mentioned the device. I'll see what I can do first thing Monday."

"Thanks."


	7. Chapter 7

**Tegan Chronicles**

**Relationships and Minefields 7**

Monday morning Janet walked into the infirmary to find Tegan waiting for her.

"How's Cass?" Tegan asked before Janet could speak.

"She's fine. She ate too much and with the heat lately. I tried calling you yesterday."

"I've been staying on base."

"You've been doing a lot of that." She watched Tegan give her a one shouldered shrug. "How's the pain?"

"It doesn't hurt at all."

"That's not good." Janet reached for it.

"Actually," Tegan pulled her hand back, "it is."

"It is?" Janet looked at the folder Tegan was holding out to her before taking it. "What's this?"

"Hold on a second." Tegan began pulling the dressing off. "I haven't seen it since last night."

She unwound the last of the gauze to reveal an inflamed and raw palm but not the charred and exposed muscle and tendons that had been evident on Friday.

"Healing device?"

"That's the really odd thing. Sam hasn't even gotten to area fifty-one yet."

"You're bleeding." Janet pointed to Tegan's nose with the folder she was holding.

"That reminds me." She pulled a clean tissue from her pocket. "It's been bleeding almost every two hours since yesterday. I woke up Sunday morning with blood on my pillow."

"I want to run…"

"I already had Julie draw it, she's running lytes, CBC, a general health screen." Tegan pointed to the folder. "I took photos starting Saturday morning to document it."

"I've got your labs." Julie came in carrying the lab report. She held it up and Tegan waited for Janet to take it.

After scanning the printout she shook her head. "Everything's within normal limits."

"General Hammond." Tegan clamped her hand around the bloodied tissue in her hand and shoved it into her pocket when she saw him enter. "Thank you for stopping by."

"What's so important Kiser?" Jack walked in behind him with Teal'c and Daniel in tow.

"I guess I'll have to fill Major Carter in later." Tegan took the photos from Janet and held the first one out for them to see. "This is from Saturday morning."

"Ouch." Daniel took the photo and held it for her.

She held up her palm. "This is how it looks now."

"Major? Doctor?" General Hammond looked between Tegan and Janet. "How is that possible without a healing device or sarcophagus?"

"I don't know sir." Tegan responded as Janet agreed with her. "But I would like your permission to look into it sir."

"Major?" He pointed to her nose.

"Sorry." She grabbed a clean tissue out of the packet in her pocket.

Janet touched her forearm lightly.

"I'm ok." She looked back at General Hammond while still holding the Kleenex to her nose. "Sir?"

"I think that would be wise. I assume Dr. Fraiser will be helping?"

"And hopefully Major Carter when she returns sir."

He nodded. "I think you need to remain on base until we get to the bottom of this."

"Yes sir, of course." Tegan looked at her palm and wiggled her fingers all traces of Friday's incident were completely gone, not even a scar remained. She pulled the tissue back to reveal a few small drops of blood.

"Keep me apprized of the situation doctors."

"Yes sir."

Janet went to let Paige know what was going on and by the time she made it to Tegan's lab she found Tegan standing there with a number ten blade in hovering over her left hand. "What are you doing?"

"A skin scraping."

"Would you like me to do it?"

"No, I've got it."

"Dylan?" Janet watched as Tegan scraped a few skin cells onto a waiting slide.

"Yeah, sorry I can cut it off."

"No it's ok. It won't bother me." Janet watched her look into the microscope, when she finally stepped back there was another artist singing another song and a frown on her face. "Nothing?"

"Normal looking cells. Have a look." She moved over.

As she was adjusting the microscope she felt Tegan graze her elbow followed by a heartfelt, "I'm sorry."

Janet nodded as her stomach tightened. "Not here, and not now."

"So?" Tegan backed against the counter behind her. "We're still sure I'm me right?"

"Technically we haven't run a DNA comparison since you were dead for thirteen weeks." Janet surmised. "And you were abducted."

"And attacked by Nirrti, which is more the direction I'm leaning."

"But even if she did have something to do with whatever caused this, why would she want to help you recover from wounds quickly, and why are you having bloody noses in spite of what ever healed you?"

Tegan shook her head.

"I mean she's normally hell bent on destroying things."

"Or creating a super human."

"Yeah, but you don't exactly fit the bill. I mean she's looking for a super human for Jaffa, and presumably her next host, and you can't be either."

"Unless, what ever caused this," she held her palm up, "is supposed to be reversing whatever is causing me to reject the symbiotes."

"One way to find out, I can run your antibody studies and compare them to the ones in your chart."

"We aren't entirely sure that's the marker though. And I don't know, I think maybe we should do a full body PET scan first. Just to be sure we're not over looking something."

"A biological bomb?"

"She did it with Cassandra." Tegan's lips parted as her tongue played thoughtfully over her right incisor.

Janet was glad she had some self control and there were security cameras in the room. She reminded herself they hadn't exactly resolved anything between them.

"I mean we never really looked into my hip after she took those samples from my iliac crest."

"Alright, we'll run the scans and look at them after lunch."

"Fine," Tegan agreed.

* * *

><p>Tegan sat down across from Janet in the mess hall and popped the top on her V8 juice.<p>

"I don't see how anyone drinks that stuff."

"I lived off it and Ramen in med school."

"Everyone does Ramen in med school, we're all poor. But V8?"

"Cheap and quick source of veggies." Tegan took a gulp.

"Looking at that reminds me, you haven't had a nose bleed in several hours."

"My V8 reminded you? Gee thanks Jan."

"You've never called me that." Written on a note maybe, but she couldn't recall Tegan actually calling her Jan.

"Sorry." Tegan looked at her turkey sandwich.

"No, don't be."

"Are we going to keep dancing around this?" She pointed between them.

"We're at work."

"Yeah, and we're wasting time talking." Tegan took a bite off her sandwich. "The longer it takes for us to figure this out, the longer I'm stuck on base."

"You don't seem to mind." Janet cut into her cornbread with her fork. "How come you haven't been going home even on the weekends?"

Tegan shrugged and looked away.

"If you don't want to answer, then just say so."

Tegan looked back to see Janet studying her face. "It just doesn't feel like home right now. I'm sure it will be fine."

Janet watched Tegan throw her napkin over the remaining three-quarters of her sandwich. She started to protest as Tegan stood. "I'll be there as soon as I'm done eating."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not lecturing me."

* * *

><p>Tegan rested her head on the desk while Janet and Sam stood looking at the PET films. They'd come back without any abnormalities, and Tegan had gone over them three times herself with a magnifying glass.<p>

"It's time to call it a day." Janet looked over at Tegan.

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "Maybe if we sleep on it, we'll have a new perspective in the morning."

Tegan lifted her head and looked at the clock it was after seven in the evening. "Ok."

* * *

><p>When Janet came in the next morning there was a stuffed pink octopus sitting in her chair behind her desk, he was holding a freshly cut sunflower in one of his tentacles. Tegan was already hard at work when she entered the lab. "I thought you weren't supposed to leave base?"<p>

"I haven't." Tegan looked up from the microscope.

"There was an octopus and a sunflower in my office."

"An octopus? And he didn't maul you with his tentacles?"

"No someone must have fed him."

Sam walked in behind Janet. "Fed who?"

"There was an octopus in Janet's office this morning." Tegan sniffed as she felt something trying to run out of her nose. She reached for a tissue but a single drop escaped and landed on a blank slide she had sitting there. "Was there a note?"

Janet shook her head as she watched Tegan place the tissue against her nose.

"It hasn't done that since yesterday morning." She pulled the unstained Kleenex away and raised her eyebrows. "Guess it's not really going to now either."

"Tegan?" Janet watched her examine the slide with the drop of blood on it.

"Yeah?" She grabbed the dropper of stain.

"You didn't leave base did you?"

"No." She looked up at Janet. "Maybe you have a secret admirer."

"Maybe." She knew Tegan was the only one who knew that Janet thought octopuses were cute.

Tegan put a slide cover over the drop of blood. "So did anyone have any brilliant theories last night or this morning?"

"No." Sam shook her head in unison with Janet's.

"Me either." Tegan placed the slide on the platform of her microscope. She looked in the biocular pieces just long enough to focus before pulling back with apprehension lighting her eyes. "Sam?"

"Yeah?" Sam's brow creased as she took in both Tegan's tone and expression.

"Is that what I think it is?"

Sam walked over and looked in the microscope. When she stepped away she looked at Janet who had moved to the other side of Tegan. She glanced from Janet to the microscope and then looked at Tegan. "If you think they're nanocytes, than yes."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"It makes sense." Janet looked in the scope.

"But why didn't we think of that?" Sam wondered aloud. "I mean it's not like we haven't ever seen a Goa'uld use nanocytes before."

"But those aren't…" Tegan stepped back to the microscope. "Shouldn't they be moving or something?"

"Yeah but because they came out of your nose, maybe they were already dead?" Sam reasoned, as Tegan started pulling supplies out to draw her blood.

"One way to find out." She handed the supplies to Janet. "Do you mind?"

"No." Janet waited for Tegan to remove her lab coat before tying the tourniquet above her left elbow. She held the needle bevel side up and slid it effortlessly into her antecubital vein. After she collected the blood they'd need she handed the vial off to Sam. The hole almost immediately closed when Janet removed the needle.

"They're moving." Sam announced as she looked in the microscope.

Tegan let Janet look before she did, when she looked she saw several of the oval shaped nanocytes moving around. She watched them for several minutes as their movement slowed. "That's really strange."

"What?" Sam stepped up.

"They're not moving anymore."

"That's odd." Janet agreed.

"Unless, she made them so they couldn't live outside they human body. Say they stop working when they are exposed to air?" Sam tossed her theory on the table.

"She?"

"Nirrti." Tegan responded knowing who Sam meant.

"Why would she do that?"

"To keep them from spreading until she knew if it would work?" Sam shrugged.


	8. Chapter 8

**Tegan Chronicles**

**Relationships and Minefields 8**

After meeting with General Hammond and the rest of SG1, Sam was given orders to work on disabling the nanocytes. Since she'd done it when Jack had been infected on Argos.

Sam walked into her lab. "I have no idea what I'm doing."

"What do you mean?" Tegan sat down on a stool.

"There was a device on Argos that activated the nanocytes, all I did was deactivate it. You're nanocytes are already activated."

"So how did the device activate the nanocytes?" Tegan played with a pen, as she licked her bottom lip.

"A radio frequency."

"So, maybe a similar frequency would deactivate mine."

"It's worth a shot." Janet nodded.

Two hours passed with Sam playing with different frequencies. Although they weren't sure what if anything would let them know it had worked, they weren't really feeling they were making any headway.

"Ouch!"

"What?" Sam looked up from the computer.

"I heard that one." Tegan shook her head.

"Sorry." Sam stood up. "I need to take a break."

"Yeah, sorry." Tegan and Janet had been brainstorming other ideas while Sam had been running through different frequencies.

Janet looked up at Tegan who'd pushed the stool away twenty minutes ago. "Tegan?" She noticed the color draining from her checks. "Sit down."

"I'm – " She closed her eyes and gripped the counter top as Sam moved behind her. "I don't feel so good."

"Janet you want to grab my…" She was going to say chair, but decided it was more important to catch Tegan as she turned into a silicone doll.

Janet rounded the edge of the table and helped Sam lower her to the floor. "Tegan?"

"Want me to call for a medical team?"

Janet shook her head as she felt for a pulse. "Tegan?"

"Mmmm." It was a deep grunt and Tegan rolled onto her side.

"Do you know where you are?"

"Sam's lab." She opened her eyes, sat up and leaned away from Janet. "I need something. Sam do you have an empty cup or something?"

Tegan ripped her lab coat off as Sam grabbed her favorite coffee mug from her desk and handed it to her.

Janet watched as pain waltzed across her face. She reached out and touched Tegan's bare forearm. "You're burning up."

"I know." She didn't smile. "My head hurts."

Janet watched her gasp and pinch the bridge of her nose while clenching her jaw and eyes shut.

"Lightening." She managed between closed teeth.

"Nirrti?" Janet asked as she crossed her legs on the floor.

"Think so." Tegan leaned toward Janet and rested her head on her shoulder. "Sorry, it helps."

"It's ok." Janet rubbed tiny circles over her back for several minutes until she pulled back with a sharp hiss. "Tegan?"

Her nose started dripping and she quickly pulled the mug up under it as it turned into a faucet spurting a thin line of blood. She had to breathe through her nose to keep from aspirating, and when she was finally able to move the mug away several minutes later it held a good three ounces of blood. She handed it up to Sam and took the Kleenex she was holding. "Sorry. You may want to…"

"I'll take a look at it under the scope." Sam watched her hold the Kleenex to her still oozing nose wondering how she knew that was coming. "We should get a venous sample too."

"I know." Tegan looked at Janet. "I think I need to go to the infirmary, I still don't feel too good."

"Let me call and get someone to bring a wheelchair."

Tegan nodded and closed her eyes.

* * *

><p>"How is she?" Sam came into the infirmary.<p>

"She's sleeping." Janet looked over at her red hair splayed on the pillow, the gentle rise and fall of her chest. "Her nose finally quit bleeding."

"The blood from her nose had hundreds, possibly thousands in it." Sam looked at the IV snaking out of the back of her hand. "But I couldn't find any in the venous sample we took. I think we should check it again in twelve to twenty-four hours to be sure."

Janet nodded. "She'll be here. Her electrolytes were the worst I've seen them in a while."

"I talked to General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill and let them know what was going on."

"They already stopped by to check on her." Janet smiled.

Sam nodded over Janet's shoulder as Tegan opened her eyes. "Hey."

"Hey Sam." She waved weakly. "How'd it look?"

"Like blood." Sam smiled. "I didn't find any nanocytes, except from the blood from your nose."

"That's good." She yawned. "I think they stole all my energy."

"It looks that way." Sam watched her eyes drift shut, and turned to Janet. "Do you want me to stay with Cassie tonight?"

"Yeah if you don't mind? Jack took Shadow with him and picked her up when he left."

"I don't mind."

"Hey?" Tegan opened her eyes and saw Janet moving away from her.

"Yes?" She walked back over and rested her hand on the upper side rail near Tegan's head.

"'If I promise not to fight, at least not tonight, would you stay the night?'"

Janet recognized the lyric from the song she'd asked Paige to memorize. "I was just going to grab a chair."

"I'm sorry, I'm being selfish." Tegan rolled onto her side. "You should go to bed."

"I want to stay with you."

"But I'm not…"

"When I get tired I'll go sleep in my quarters how's that?"

Tegan nodded.

* * *

><p>Friday afternoon Tegan was sitting on the edge of the bed she'd been in for close to forty-eight hours. Her blood work had come back normal, at least for her, and they were still unable to find any more nanocytes in her blood samples. They had pretty much reached the same theory, that the no longer working nanocytes were being evacuated through the thin nasal membranes, which was causing the nose bleeds. They still weren't sure what the purpose of the nanocytes had been, but again they had their theories. If they were right about them reversing whatever caused her to reject the symbiotes and her autoimmune markers were the indicator, then the nanobytes had been unsuccessful.<p>

"You're free to go," Janet announced. "And General Hammond has lifted your quarantine to base."

"Thanks." Tegan finished tying her boot and looked at Shadow.

"I want you to take the rest of the day off, there's no reason to return to your lab for a couple hours."

"You could have told me before I put on my uniform." Tegan smiled lightly.

"Are you going home?"

Tegan tightened her lips and shook her head no.

"I'm leaving in half an hour to take Cassandra to the airport. She's spending a week with my parents. You're welcome to stay the weekend with me."

"I don't even know where we stand right now."  
>"The sheets are clean in the guest room." Janet left it at that.<p>

When she pulled on to her street after getting Cassie on her flight, she saw Tegan's black Porsche parked in her driveway. She pulled in beside it spotting Tegan sitting on her porch steps in a button down blouse, a pair of shorts and flip-flops, Shadow sitting beside her. She opened her door. "Did you change your mind?"

"No." Tegan stood up as Janet started up the walkway carrying the stuffed octopus she'd received earlier in the week. "I was hoping we could talk."

"Come on in." Janet unlocked the front door and pushed her way in, sitting the octopus at the bottom of the stairs to wait for her next trip up. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"A Pepsi if you have it." Tegan moved to the living room playing absent mindedly with her keys before shoving them into her pocket.

"Have a seat." Janet handed her a glass of ice and a cold can of Pepsi.

Tegan sat on one end of the couch and Janet took the other, popping the top on her Diet Coke and pouring it over the ice.

"Are you still mad at me?"

"We can chalk it up to another alien device," Janet offered with a sigh. It would be easy enough to do, but it was getting a little bit old.

"That's not what I asked."

"But it's true." Her voice was on edge.

"Don't say that." Tegan turned sideways slipping her flip-flops off and resting one leg on the couch so she could look at Janet. Her eyes burned and she took a deep breath. "Because if you say that, then everything that's happened since our third kiss wasn't real, and it was. Kissing you, dancing with you, waking up with you in my bed. If you chalk it up to the nanocytes then you take all those things away from me."

Janet nodded. She didn't want to say that those things had been part of something Tegan wasn't controlling. "Then why didn't you tell me about the bloody noses, and what happened in the shower?"

"Because I didn't think they were important. If I had known it would lead to you thinking I didn't trust you I would have told you."

"But you walked out, Tegan. Instead of talking about it, you walked out."

"I didn't know what to say that wouldn't make the situation worse. I thought we needed time to cool down." She wanted to run for the door, but she wanted to pull Janet into her arms and never let go at the same time. "I still don't know what to say, except that I've never felt about anyone the way I feel about you."

"I never stopped loving you Tegan." Janet let her pull her into her chest and wrap her arms around her.

"Does that mean you forgive me?"

Janet nodded. "So, how'd the octopus and sunflower make it on base?"

"I have a friend." She smiled into Janet's neck. "I ordered the octopus online and he was delivered to my friend's house the day before you got it, and I asked said 'friend' to pick out the best sunflower on their way in that morning."

"I really like him, he's cute." Janet snuggled back into Tegan. "Have you changed your mind about staying here?"

"Maybe?"

Janet rolled over onto her knees being careful not to hit Tegan in the process, and rested her hands on the armrest behind her blocking her in. "What can I do to change that maybe into a yes?"

She didn't give her time to answer before she moved in to kiss soft lips, her body and mouth slowly urging Tegan's down until she couldn't move any further without Janet moving her knee. Janet pulled way slightly as Tegan's hands found their way to her back pulling her body flat on top of hers. She enfolded Janet in her arms so her head rested on the soft area just below her collar bone.

Janet stretched out along her body moving her hand up to Tegan's stomach and unbuttoning the lower buttons on her blouse. She heard Tegan inhale sharply as her cool fingers caressed the smooth warm skin. She could feel taunt muscles rippling beneath her palm as she flattened it across her abdomen stretching her fingers up to the edges of her rib cage. She felt and heard the rhythmic beat of Tegan's heart as her own pounded in sync with hers.

"Yes." Tegan whispered. "I'll stay."

"That wasn't hard." Janet smiled and closed her eyes feeling Tegan stroking her hand down her back.

"Janet?"

"Hmmm?" She lifted her head groggily.

"You're snoring."

"I don't snore?" She wasn't sure if she did or not, but didn't think she did. Not normally anyway.

"No." Tegan laughed lightly. "But you are lying on my bladder, and it's a little uncomfortable."

"Sorry." Janet rolled toward the back of the couch.

Tegan hated to break the contact but she really needed to let Shadow out and take care of her own needs. She slid out from under Janet's leg and hand and made her way through the kitchen letting Shadow into the backyard to chase butterflies in the evening light. When she came out of the bathroom Janet was sitting in the dinning room waiting her turn. "What do you want to eat? I'm thinking about ordering out, or going out to pick something up."

"I don't know."

"Think about it while I'm…" She let her voice trail while she shut the door.

"Who has a good salad?" Tegan asked when Janet came back out, and she moved to let Shadow in.

"There's that sub place, or we could call in a curbside to go at Applebee's and pick up a movie and bring it back."

"That sounds good they have some good salads."

"And desserts." Janet smiled. "I'll go pull the menu up online."


	9. Chapter 9

**Tegan Chronicles**

**Relationships and Minefields 9**

Tegan put the other half of her salad in the refrigerator while Janet put "Dirty Dancing" in the DVD player. "Are you ready?"

"Yup." Tegan snuggled down on the couch beside Janet as she hit play.

As the movie started Janet reached over and ran her fingers through Tegan's hair.

"Do you know I've never seen this movie before?"

"Really?" Janet's plans for distraction flew out the window.

"Really." Tegan wrapped her left arm around Janet and pulled her into her side letting out a content sigh.

Janet made herself comfortable determined not to let her hands or mind wander. It was a difficult task, and she finally got up. "Do you want some popcorn or something to drink?"

Tegan shook her head no as she continued to watch the movie.

"Ice cream?"

"I'm not hungry." Her eyes didn't leave the screen.

"That's cold." Tegan grabbed Janet's wrist as her hand wandered under her shirt as the end credits began to roll.

"You didn't complain this afternoon."

"You hadn't been holding a cold bowl of ice cream this afternoon." Tegan pulled her hand to her lips and kissed her knuckles. "So what are we going to watch now?"

"I don't know." Janet stood up with her empty ice cream bowl. "Let's go out Shadow."

She was standing in the darkened kitchen waiting for Shadow to finish his business when she felt warm fingers brush her hair back and soft lips place a tender kiss on the nape of her neck. Arms wrapped around her from behind just under her ribs, she could feel Tegan's breasts pressing into her back, her lips kissing her neck.

Tegan paused several times to just inhale Janet's scent. Her hands flattening on Janet's stomach pulling her tighter against her own body. "What's Shadow doing?"

"I don't know." Janet moaned.

Tegan laughed and pulled away looking across the moonlit yard. She slid the glass door open. "Come on boy."

"You really know how to ruin a moment." Janet looked at Shadow who looked innocently up at her. He didn't remember putting his cold nose on her this time. He sighed and trotted off to find his food and water bowls. Janet turned to Tegan. "Come to bed with me."

"What?" Her voice caught in her throat.

"Nothing kinky, I just want you to hold me tonight." She took Tegan's hand. "Please?"

Tegan nodded once and let Janet guide her up the stairs grabbing the octopus on the way. "Have you named him yet?"

"I thought it was a girl, when's the last time you saw a pink boy octopus?"

"When's the last time you saw one covered in fur?" Tegan poked Janet in the ribs with her free hand.

Tegan pulled her hand loose as they passed the guest room. "I need to find something to sleep in."

"Ok, I'll be in there." Janet pointed to her bedroom just in case Tegan forgot the way.

Tegan pulled out the drawer where she kept extra clothes for those times Janet wouldn't let her go home. She pulled out a light grey tank top and slipped out of her shirt and bra. She found a pair of pink boxers that she knew weren't hers in the drawer and pulled them out. When she walked into Janet's room she was still wearing her shorts and held the boxers up, the waistband looped over one finger. "Sam's?"

Janet turned around as she pulled a blue satin nightie over her head. "I wondered how long it would take you to find those."

"So they are Sam's?"

"No, there mine." Janet took them from her and threw them in the closet. "I wear them sometimes with my over sized oxfords."

"Then how come they were in the guest room?"

Janet blushed. "I'm not letting you in my bed with those cargo shorts on."

Tegan pulled the button and zipper loose and let them fall revealing a pair of black low rise bikini panties. "Better?"

"Uh huh."

"So, back to the boxers." Tegan moved to the opposite side of the bed and slid in, flipping the covers up over her hips.

Janet turned off the overhead light and slipped into the other side. She took Tegan's hand in hers and rubbed her thumb across the back of it. "If I tell you, you promise not to laugh?"

"I promise."

"They're in the guest room so when I want to wear them to bed," her red cheeks deepened, "I can go in their and pretend they're yours."

A toothy grin engulfed Tegan's face.

"You promised."

"I'm not laughing." She held it in. "Let me guess, that's why you were wearing CK One the night you spent the night at my place?"  
>Janet nodded slowly.<p>

"That's sweet, except I don't wear boxers."

"You don't think I'm crazy?"

"Well, I didn't say that now did I?" Tegan leaned in and kissed Janet's lips, trapping her lower lip gently in her teeth and pulling back letting go without hurting her.

"What are you afraid of?" Janet gazed into those green irises swirling with mystery.

"What do you mean?"

Janet smiled, at least she hadn't said 'nothing.' "I'm afraid something will happen and I won't get to see Cassandra get married."

"Oh." Something passed across Tegan's face, something dark.

"What?" Janet squeezed her hand. "You can tell me."

"I'm afraid I won't be able to give you what you need."

"All I need is you." Janet watched the darkness flitter across Tegan's features again.

"Yeah." Tegan lifted her eyebrows. She wanted to give Janet that, but she didn't know if she could. "I think it was better when we were talking about pink boxers in the guest room."

Janet rolled over on top of Tegan trapping her wrists against the bed and sitting on her lower abdomen with a leg draped on either side of her. "Do you trust me?"

Tegan nodded.

Janet kissed her forehead. "Are you going to tell me if you have any more bloody noses?"

Again Tegan nodded.

Janet kissed the small dip in Tegan's throat, letting her tongue slip out to taste her. "Are you going to always tell me every little thing when it comes to your health?"

Tegan looked at Janet, she wanted to say yes. "Ye… you know I can't promise you that."

Janet leaned down and licked her lips before she felt Tegan's tongue touch hers. She sucked it willingly into her mouth. When she pulled away she let go of Tegan's hands. "I know."

Tegan held onto Janet's hips as she readjusted. "If you know then why ask?"

"Because I wanted to see if you wanted me to kiss you bad enough to lie to me."

"It was a test?" Tegan grabbed Janet's shoulders to keep her from getting hurt as she bucked and rolled to get her off her.

Janet wasn't having any of it, and held onto Tegan's hips with her curled legs. "I would have kissed you either way."

Tegan stopped fighting what was clearly a losing battle, although if she'd really wanted to she knew she could toss her. She let her hands drop beside her.

"And it wasn't a test." Janet leaned down a kissed pouting lips. "I know that some things aren't going to change, like you being hardheaded."

"And you being bossy."

"I'm not bossy." Janet argued.

"Yes you are."

"Am not. Now shut up and kiss me."

That was one order Tegan didn't have to hear twice.

* * *

><p>Tegan rolled over to find a big brown eyes staring at her, and they weren't Janet's. There was a furry face and big wet nose on her pillow. She sighed and he yawned. "Yuck!"<p>

"What?"

"You've got dog breath."

"Sorry." Janet grumbled.

"Not you." Tegan looked at Shadow who acted like he was in his own bed. "You're not supposed to be up here."

"Huh?" Janet rolled over and sighed. "Oh, him. It's ok. I told him he could get up here."

"You what?" Tegan sat up and looked over the lump of mostly black fur to Janet.

"He was cold."

"It's the end of July, how was he cold?" Tegan pointed to the floor.

"The floor was cold." Janet yawned as he climbed over her to jump down. "It was cold, and hard."

"I didn't think you liked dogs."

"I never said I didn't like dogs. I just don't want to have one hundred percent responsibility for one. Besides he sleeps with you, and Cassandra. He was lonely."

Tegan looked over at his sad eyes regarding her. "Sorry boy."

Tail wagging he put his paws on her thigh and reached up to lick her face.

Tegan came downstairs after getting a shower her hair wet and standing every which way it could. Janet was standing in front of the coffee pot pouring her second cup, Shadow was laying out in the backyard taking in the sun.

"Breakfast?"

Tegan shook her head, and took Janet's mug from her hand and sat it down on the counter. "That stuff'll kill you."

"I think you mean cigarettes." Janet smiled as Tegan leaned down to kiss her.

She pecked her nose. "I'm not kissing coffee breath. I like the smell not the taste."

"I need to get a shower and brush my teeth anyway."

"Don't rush on my account." She handed Janet her coffee mug back. "Do you mind if I leave him here? I need to run home for a couple hours."

"A couple hours?"

"Yeah, or so." Tegan looked at her watch. "I'll be back no later than eleven, and don't eat."

"What are you up to?"

Tegan shrugged with her eyebrows and kissed Janet's forehead.

At ten-fifty Tegan pulled back into Janet's drive way and ran in the house with the car running. "Grab your shoes, let's go."

"Shadow's in the back yard."

"I've got him." She was already halfway down the hallway.

Tegan opened the door and told Shadow he'd have to stay there. When she got back to the front door Janet was in a pair shorts and t-shirt and Birkenstocks.

"So?" Janet drawled.

"So… what?"

"Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise."

"A surprise?"

"You'll see."

"Are you going to give me a clue?"

"Nope." Tegan bounded down the porch steps.

They drove for an hour before Tegan pulled over, "We're here."

"Where exactly is here?" It wasn't like she'd been blindfolded on the way.

"Just follow me." Tegan popped the trunk pulling out a cooler and small picnic basket earning a smile from Janet.

"Let me carry something."

Tegan handed the picnic basket off to her and headed down an overgrown trail that had been forgotten for some time. Janet could hear the light breeze rustling through the leaves and she thought she heard the babble of water. The further from the car they went the louder the water became until the trees opened up to reveal a small river of water thirty feet across from one rocky bank to the other. The water rushed by, birds sang from the trees, and the air was so clean and fresh.

Janet took a deep breath clearing her lungs, as Tegan moved out onto a large flat bolder that jutted into and above the water. She picked the flattest spot that was still shaded by overhanging branches and sat the cooler down. She turned and held her hand out.

Janet ignored the gesture to help her navigate, and handed the wicker basket off. "This place is beautiful. How did you ever find it?"

"I was out on my motorcycle last spring and stumbled across it." She pulled out a traditional large red checkered cotton table cloth and spread it on the rock. "Have a seat."

"Do you need help?"

"No." Tegan moved the cooler on to an empty corner of the cloth, and started pulling items out. There was chicken salad garnished with pineapple and pecans, served over romaine lettuce, chilled ginger ale, an assortment of crackers and something she left in the cooler for later.

She handed Janet one of the covered plates of chicken salad and a spun cotton dish towel to use for a napkin. "I hope ginger ale is ok, if not I've got water."

"It's fine." Janet smiled. "You didn't have to go through so much trouble."

"The most trouble I went through was going to go the grocery store on a Saturday morning. The rest was a piece of cake." Tegan pulled her phone out of her pocket and cut it off. "You might want to do the same, save your battery. I told Sam approximately where we'd be in case Cassie called."

"Or the world needed saving." Janet shook her head, and took another bite of her salad.

"You know I didn't ask for this transfer. I didn't even believe in aliens and crap when I first met General Hammond."

"Me either." Janet smiled lightly thinking back.

"How'd you end up here?"

"Fate, destiny?"

"Besides that." Tegan took a sip of her ginger ale.

"I had just returned from an undisclosed place in Africa where I'd been working with the CDC, when I got a call from General Hammond."

"Ebola?"

Janet nodded. "I met with him and Colonel O'Neill and next thing I know I've got my transfer papers in hand and I'm staring at the Stargate."

Tegan put the lid back on the remains of her salad.

"So what's your story?" Janet continued to work on her lunch.

"I've got this friend who's a civilian contract for the Navy and she works at Miramar."

"Top Gun?"

Tegan nodded. "Not Charlie though. Anyway Annie pulled some strings and got me some air time on the weekend between classes, and well…" She cleared her throat and grinned. "I saw this large paper apparatus that was suspended between two cranes. I didn't know at the time it was the exact dimensions of the Stargate, or even what that one existed. All I saw was a challenge, and I flew threw it."

"Go on," Janet pled when Tegan paused.

"When I landed on the tarmac, I knew I was in trouble. So I didn't even lift the visor on my helmet before I exited the jet. I was met by General Hammond who demanded I change out of my flight gear and report to the hangar. I think he thought I was just another cocky guy. When I reported to the hangar in my blues he tore me a new one. Asked me what the hell I thought I was doing, and if I knew how much that plane cost. Then he promised he'd have my wings and rank before the next weekend."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah," Tegan nodded. "He had some Navy big wigs breathing down the back of his neck, so maybe he had to make it look good."

"But you didn't lose your wings."

"He was in my office the following Wednesday, and after reviewing my personnel file he was telling me I was being transferred and it was classified. He said I was the first pilot they'd found who could fly an F-16 through that paper circle." She shrugged. "He told me had it not been for that and my medical background I would have been demoted and probably lost my wings. Then he handed me a stack of papers and told me there were more outside my door.

"I read over the field reports and information I was given and thought it was some kind of joke. A badly written science fiction novel, but within a week I was reporting for duty. It wasn't like I had a choice, and here I am."

"Here you are." Janet smiled dreamily at Tegan as she took her empty container and put it in the basket.

"Are you ready for dessert?"

"There's dessert?"

Tegan nodded, "but we can wait for lunch to go down first."


	10. Chapter 10

**Tegan Chronicles**

**Relationships and Minefields 10**

Janet moved onto her stomach and rested her chin on her hands as she watched water rush by making its way down the mountainside. Tegan watched her take a deep breath. "Are you ok?"

"I am." She rolled onto her side and looked at her. "I'm just taking it all in. You, me, nature, I wish I could freeze this moment in time. Monday morning will be here too soon, and with it…"

"Shhh." Tegan crawled over to her a lay on the rock the sun warming her back. "Let's not even think about anything but this."

Janet watched Tegan point down between them. "The table cloth or the rock?"

"Funny." Tegan stuck her tongue out playfully and Janet moved in to trap it in her mouth; her right hand holding Tegan's head to keep her from pulling away as she tangled her fingers in her hair.

Tegan eagerly returned the kiss and slipped her left hand under Janet's shirt. Her palm flattening along the muscles flanking her spine, fingers fanning out to the other side, she slid her hand up higher never easing the pressure until she stopped between Janet's shoulder blades. Her wrist caught under her bra strap.

Janet broke the kiss and gently guided Tegan further onto her side. She kissed her neck and pulled her shirt up. As she continued to place wet kisses on her neck, her fingers played lightly across Tegan's stomach. The heat between them growing until Janet felt fingernails gently scraped her back as Tegan squeezed her hand into a fist before extracting herself from the back of Janet's bra and shirt.

Tegan took Janet's hand in hers and pulled it up pressing her lips to her fingers and inhaling. "I think we should break out dessert."

Janet nodded, still feeling the wanton desire that was burning deep inside.

"You know," Tegan pulled out an opaque container from the cooler, "if we keep this up I might have to douse both of us with this." She sloshed the ice and water around for Janet to hear.

"I wasn't doing anything," Janet mused.

"Except…" She was going to say driving her wild, but opened the container to reveal chocolate dipped strawberries.

"You really were busy." Janet took in the aroma as her mouth watered.

"I promise you they taste harder to make then they are." Tegan laughed and held the container out. "How hard is it to melt some chocolate and dip strawberries?"

"It's got to be easier than getting inside your shirt." Janet grinned and pulled the biggest strawberry out of the center.

"You were just in my shirt." Tegan listened to the moan of pleasure as Janet bit into the strawberry, juice running down her chin.

Janet wiped at the liquid. "That's wonderful."

Tegan pulled out one for her self and sat the container between them before taking a bite.

"You shouldn't do that." Janet watched her with interest.

"Do what?" She exhaled.

"Hold your breath."

"I wasn't holding my breath." She didn't remember holding her breath.

"Yes you were." Janet moved the strawberries aside and wiped her fingers off. "When you're in pain you hold your breath, even though you deny being in pain. And I just watched as you bit into that strawberry, you held your breath."

Tegan flicked the green cap into the rushing water and watched it float out of view. She tensed lightly and drew in her breath as she felt Janet's hand slide back under her shirt.

"See, you did it again." Janet pulled her hand back out. "Breathe with it." She picked up another strawberry and sunk her teeth into it this time moaning a bit louder than with the previous one to prove her point. "It makes it that much more enjoyable, and believe it or not, when you are in pain breathing through it and even groaning can help lessen the pain, and no one will think you are weak."

Tegan just shook her head.

"I'm serious."

"I know you are." Tegan picked up a strawberry and savored the flavor quietly before flicking the cap away.

"See it was better when you were breathing, wasn't it."

"Maybe." Tegan held the container up and Janet shook her head no.

"Uh huh." She watched Tegan put the container away and move back to sit against a tree trunk. She stood up and moved in front of her, Tegan opened her bent legs giving Janet a place to sit. "Look at that."

"What?" Tegan asked as Janet settled back against her.

"A perfect fit."

Tegan combed her fingers through Janet's hair and whispered, "A perfect fit."

* * *

><p>"Are you ok?" Janet asked when she found Tegan sprawled out on the bed after taking a shower that evening.<p>

"Yup." Tegan had her head resting on her forearm; her hair had dried while Janet was showering.

"You sure?"

She nodded. "I'm just tired."

"I've never known you to get tired."

"Maybe whatever those nanocytes were supposed to do they did." Tegan moved all her body parts to one side of the bed to give Janet room to sit.

"I hope not."

"I'm sure the sun, listening to the water and good company wore me out."

Janet settled beside her facing the headboard and running her hands up under Tegan's shirt. "You promise you're not sick?"

"I promise." She mumbled. "Just letting my guard down."

Janet didn't hide her smile as she started working worn out muscles.

When she awoke the next morning Tegan felt a warm arm draped across her naked body. Well, she reasoned it wasn't a completely naked body she was still in her underwear. She opened her eyes and saw her shirt folded neatly on the nightstand, which probably meant she'd taken it off. She looked down at the light olive toned arm draped protectively over her. She blushed as she remembered how she ended up waking up without her shirt this morning. Janet had been massaging her back and asked her to take it off. She removed it, and folded it before putting on the nightstand. She blushed even deeper.

"What's wrong?" Janet's voice was soft, but startled Tegan nonetheless.

"I'm sorry," She apologized and rolled toward Janet. "I didn't mean to fall asleep on you last night."

"Must have been a really good massage huh?" Janet smiled and kissed her forehead. "That's what I wanted hon. I wanted to help you relax and get a good night's sleep."

Tegan reached behind her grabbing the tank top from the nightstand.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting my shirt." She held it up as if the answer was obvious.

"Why?"

"So I can put it on."

Janet took it from Tegan's loose hold and tossed it across the room.

"What are you doing?"

"Enjoying the view." Janet pulled the sheets down. She was still very much in her nightshirt.

"Jan – " She sucked her breath in as Janet's knuckles grazed her nipple.

"You're holding your breath again."

"I'm hungry." Tegan blew out as she slipped from the covers. "And Shadow needs to go out."

Shadow lifted his head from his front paws and looked at her for a second before lazily stretching into a standing position.

Tegan grabbed her shirt and slipped into it.

When Janet came downstairs she'd wrapped a robe around her and noticed Tegan had thrown on a pair of black nylon running shorts. "You didn't go to a Catholic school so is it me?"

"What?" Tegan turned from staring out the back door.

"Is it me?"

"Yes." Tegan knew that wasn't the answer Janet wanted to hear, and she pulled her into her arms. "It's you. Or maybe you're it. You know… the one."

"You're making no sense." Janet tried to pull back but Tegan held her in place.

"I've fallen." She tilted her lips to Janet's ear. "I love you Janet Fraiser. I'm in love with you."

Janet pulled back. "I love you too."

"I know."

"Oh you do huh?" Janet tickled her ribs lightly.

"Yup, that's why you keep trying to get in my pants."

"Maybe I'm just a sex crazed maniac."

"Maybe." Tegan shrugged.

"Besides, I haven't tried to get in your pants." She slipped fingers up under the hem of Tegan's shirt. "I'd be happy getting inside your shirt first."

Tegan leaned back against the cool glass. "Mmmm."

"See…" Janet let her hand wander further. "Isn't that better than holding your breath?"

Tegan nodded and put her hand over Janet's the cotton of her shirt separating them. Wrapping her other arm around Janet she slid to the floor bringing her with her and urging her hand up further.

"Breathe." Janet's feathery breath tickled Tegan's ear and she turned to capture her lips.

After several minutes Janet pulled back and smiled as she removed her hand from Tegan's shirt. "You said you were hungry."

"But?"

"This?" She waved her hand between them, "It can wait until you're ready for more."

That afternoon Tegan walked into the backyard joining Janet.

"Can I help you?" She offered a tall glass of freshly squeezed lemonade to her who was pulling weeds in her flowerbed.

"No." Janet pulled off one of her gardening gloves before taking the tall cool glass, its surface slick with condensation. "But thanks for the offer and the lemonade."

"You're welcome." Tegan moved back a few feet and sat Indian style in the grass before taking a long sip from her own glass.

Shadow came up and dropped his tennis ball in her lap. She picked it up and tossed it across the yard. She continued to watch Janet and playing fetch with Shadow for several more minutes before she got up and took in their glasses. When she returned she had her guitar case.

"What are you doing?" Janet looked over her shoulder with dirt streaked across her forehead.

"I thought I'd serenade you." Tegan pulled her guitar out.

"The neighbors might hear."

"Do you think they'll mind?"

"No, I'm afraid they might all want in my backyard for front row seats." She smiled.

"I'm not that good."

"You are that good." Janet turned back to her flowers. "All those people at Mac's agree with me."

"You know they make this stuff called weed killer."

"It's not good for my flowers." Janet glanced back. "I thought you were going to play."

"What do you want me to play?"

"I think if you're going to serenade someone, you're supposed to pick the song."

Tegan started playing a few chords before she sang The Beatles' lyrics, "'Something in the way she moves, Attracts me like no other lover. Something in the way she woos me, I don't want to leave her now, You know I believe and how.'" Tegan watched as Janet seemed to lose interest in weeding, although she didn't turn around.

"'Somewhere in her smile she knows, That I don't need no other lover. Something in her style that shows me, Don't want to leave her now, You know I believe and how.'" She sat her guitar aside, which caused Janet to turn and look at her.

"'You're asking me will my love grow,'" Her voice billowed as she crawled on hands and knees to her. "'I don't know, I don't know. You stick around now it may show, I don't know, I don't know.'"

She leaned in, thankful for the privacy fencing in the backyard and devoured Janet's lips and mouth, tasting the sweet and sour of the lemonade mixing with the salty perspiration on her lips. She pulled back and rested her forehead against Janet's. "I'm going to go get a shower."

"I'll be in soon."

Tegan packed her guitar back in its case and Janet watched her make her way across the yard and disappear into the house.

Monday morning would be there all too soon, and they both knew what that meant. The weekend, that could have been long, boring and lonely, had instead brought them so much closer than the last several months, would come to an end. Life would return to normal.

Tegan had her pre-mission physical at nine and jumped at eleven.

Neither one wanted reality to return.

* * *

><p>Tegan lay alongside Janet listening to her breathe in the darkness. Finally Janet rolled over onto her side facing her. "What's on your mind?"<p>

"Nothing."

"I can hear you thinking."

"That loud huh?" Her voice filled with warmth as she smiled. "Am I keeping you awake?"

"It's been a long day," Janet sighed as she felt slender fingers seeking refuge under the hem of her shirt.

"Ah, but, I did offer to help several times."

"Offering to run to Home Depot and buy weed killer isn't really helping me weed the flower beds." Janet reached out blindly and ran her fingernails along Tegan's scalp.

"I only offered to do that once."

"Twice."

"Ok, twice." Tegan grinned and kissed Janet's neck. "Take your shirt off."

"Why?" She wondered why she didn't jump at the chance. "I thought we weren't going to…"

"We're not." Tegan pulled her hand out and shifted around until she was free of her own top. She tossed it behind her.

"Did you just throw your shirt on my floor?" Janet questioned as she followed suit.

"I did."

"So your neatness thing isn't OCD?"

"No," Tegan laughed, "it's not OCD."

As she lay back down she felt Tegan wiggle up next to her, their bodies touching. She snuggled back into Tegan's chest as Tegan buried her face in her neck. "Next time we'll lose the underwear."

"Yup," Tegan mumbled into her shoulder.

"So why did I take my shirt off?"

She slid her arm under Janet's and draped it across her abdomen. "So I could feel you against me."

"Think you can sleep now?"

Tegan nodded and kissed Janet's temple. It wasn't until she heard Janet's quite rhythmic breathing that she drifted off herself.


End file.
